God, Legend, Man
by Son of Falstaf
Summary: Forged with resolve, seasoned with a burning will, witness the birth of a Man, a Legend, a God. Naruto is the catalysct to humanity's destiny. Watch, as the will of God becomes reality. Epic Length, Epic Writing, Epic Plot
1. Chapter 1 Fate

`"Damn it Tsunade! I will not take that boy with me and that is final!" broke Jiraiya into Tsunade's rant midway. When he would look back on this day many years from now, he would come to realize that that sudden rush of adrenaline and youth he felt in that one split moment was something akin to fate.

"…." Too bewildered by his outburst to say anything more, she simply stared, asking for an explanation to why he couldn't follow her orders.

"And why are you not taking him with you?" She started when Jiraiya neglected to explain his outburst.

She began again.

"He is in a lot of danger as it is in the village. Akatsuki will have a harder time finding him if he's on the road with you. And besides that, you are the only one qualified to train the boy!"

"Bullshit Tsunade!" He interrupted. Again. "What he needs MOST, is experience." He paused. "Like every ninja whose ever amounted to anything excels in." He stopped to turn, facing the door and letting Tsunade stare at his back.

"You and I have seen this as proof Tsunade. You, me, and Orochimaru know this firsthand. We were all bloodline-less children. Orochimaru was the 'gifted' one, you and me got through life with hard work. And look what we all became. Look how you and I have surpassed him, and look what he has become. We have a chance here Tsunade. We have a chance to let a highly determined and highly skilled ninja become the greatest we've ever known. And he will see experience. He will know what to do to make himself great."

He started walking to the door now, at a slow and deliberate pace.

"Besides Tsunade. Akatsuki will only begin to seek him out 3 years from now, when he is 17. You know that…"

He opened to door and closed it gently, but not before saying ever so softly and clearly…

"You know all of this. Maybe you should be following the ideals of a Hokage. Not giving out a Hokage's order."

She didn't realize she had gotten up at that point. But she did remember having to sit back down. And breathe…slowly…for several minutes…

"Maybe he's right…" She thought. What Naruto needs now is not the coddling of the Hokage. He needs experience. Experience would supply him with direction in his career. Enough of it can send him to the top. Rather than guarantee mediocre success from training with Jiraiya, who would have to leave Naruto for weeks at a time to complete his own missions, she would gamble…no…she would rest easy, knowing Naruto , and only Naruto, can make himself great. Besides, the village cannot protect him from everything. Especially not the Akatsuki.

"Send in Uzumaki, Naruto please" She spoke to the intercom while pressing its button with enough strength to crack the plastic surrounding it.

She would have time to think before he got here about the specifics…

The first thing that alarmed him was the hour. It was near midnight in the dark hospital room when he sensed a disturbance in the adjacent hallway. He turned to the door to see the handle jiggle and open, revealing a dark figure in the brightly lit hallway. The light of the hallway and the darkness of his room led his pupils to wildly contract and focus on the figure, which due to his ambient light levels looked almost ethereal. The only really distinguishing mark on this shadowy blob was his immaculately white porcelain face mask. A Cat…

"Hokaga-sama requests you presence immediately" The lone figure stated. Deep was his voice, contrasting deeply with his feline mask with its playful yet feral snarl.

He frowned. Tsunade had never summoned for him formally. Only through Kakashi and Sakura. This combined with the late hour of the night and the fact that he was only about half recovered from the fights with Orochimaru and Kabuto…this was serious.

"Take me there"

"Whats this about, Ba-chan?!" Yelled Naruto after sitting down in the seat in front of the Hokage.

"Naruto. Let me begin by saying that I am sorry." Tsunade expressed with a serious attitude. "I took you for granted, figured that all your previous exploits were the result of luck. That you were, in fact, weak. It was a mis-truth, and I am sorry for believing it". She finished.

He sat bewildered. "Wha…"

"So I will now call upon my powers as a Hokage…" She cut in "…and promote you to Chunin, effective immediately."

"Chu…Chunin?! But, Tsunade! I'm not strong enough!"

"Bullshit." Tsunade said plainly, remembering some of the things Jiraya told her about. "You defeated ninja's that well surpass the Genin levels. A few weeks ago you took on and defeated Kabuto, an A class shinobi and right hand man of Orochimaru. You did it by learning a Hijutsu from Jiraiya that you learned in 3 weeks that anyone else would take at least a year to master. You, above all other Genin, are worthy of the title Chunin. And I will remind you, that this topic is not up for debate. Promotion is a privilege of a Hokage and is undisputable.

"But…I can't lead people..."

"That can be learned from experience Naruto. Which you will receive copious amounts of. Also effective immediately, you are to be hereby placed on the active duty roster, and additionally, be put on the preferred duty roster when not on a mission."

"Why?" He asked with a suspicious face. He was a little scared, truth be told, but his curiosity got the better of him.

"Because it is what is best for you." She stated simply, her seriousness never leaving her.

"Jiraya will leave you instructions before he leaves on his 3-year mission. They are detailed. On top of that, you have Kakashi ." She added in as he got up.

He turned to leave, but was stopped.

"Here!" She shouted as he turned around. He had caught his Chunin vest with practiced ease…

Looking up a little, he uttered "Thank you…Hokage-sama", turned, left, and went home.

'_Fate always seems on your side, Naruto. Let us hope fate doesn't have a bad sense of humor…'_.

Peeking around the bushes, Naruto spotted his wayward teachers standing in the middle of the training area. He had gotten a messenger bird message shortly after his shopping experience telling him to meet Kakashi and Jiraya at these training grounds at noon. So here he was.

For their parts, both Kakashi and Jiraiya had seemed shocked by Naruto's appearance.

Black ninja sandals connected to baggy black pants by black leather bandage wrappings. The pants themselves were of a medium baggy nature, and riddled with pockets. Twin thigh holsters appeared at his thighs, taped with the same material his shoes were wrapped to his legs with. He also sported a half cowl starting from his waist and ending mid-calve, wrapping each side up to mid thigh (The kind Hyuuga Neji wear in Shippuuden).

A plain black muscle shirt droned his upper torso, along with leather wrappings of thinner and decidedly browner color than the rest of his wrappings. They were strewn over his body. Over that he wore a Chuunin vest.

They also took to notice black sleeves on his arms, long and large enough to conceal weapons. They started at mid bicep, seeing as his shirt ended at the shoulders and proceeded to form a ruffle less turtle neck. His headband was on its proper place, but it now sported a much longer bandana holding it in place. It reached to mid back. Lastly to Naruto's new arsenal was a bright orange scarf that wrapped around his neck and covered his lower face loosely, but enough for it to act as a face mask. It also seemed to flow along the wind, indicating a silk scarf…They would always follow angle in their pull so most shinobi stayed away.

Overall, it was a huge improvement.

"Naruto…I've prepared some scrolls for you" Jiraya started, getting right to business. He had to leave immediately after this anyway… "They are sealed within this one giant scroll. Merely channel your chakra into the scroll and select the numbered scroll when it appears. Start at one." He finished. He jumped to the trees and said "Goodbye Naruto. When I am back, I expect you to make me proud." They both accepted smiles and Naruto vowed to make his master proud.

"Well Naruto…congratulations on being the first of my students to be a Chunin. As of now, we are no longer teacher and student, but comrades in arms." Kakashi rung in, truly proud to have a student of his make it. He handed Naruto a note large scroll. "This scroll contains most all of the chkra control exersizes you can ever find in any of the villages. Also, there is explanation on jutsu theory and manipulation." He said.

"Thank you, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said sincerely.

"_He seems to already be taking this seriously. I have never been this proud for a student before."_ He thought.

They parted ways again, but not until telling Naruto his one piece of advice, from one comrade, to another. The secrets of the Kage-Bunshin, of course, can only be divulged to Chunin class or higher…

_**End Chapter 1 Mission 0: Fate**_


	2. Chapter 2 Sympathy for the Devil

The next month saw Naruto trying to master multiple jutsu, among them was **Bunshin Dai-bakuha,** and the regular bunshin. He resolved to correct his control deficiencies, and did so by using armies of kage-bunshin. He had all but mastered tree and water walking, increasing his control to mid Chunin level. He wouldn't stop there though. He was just beginning to train…

That month actually saw zero social experiences for Naruto, save for run ins with local drunks and paranoid townsfolk in the middle of the woods every now and again.

One thing was certain. He was ready to take his first life, the mark of a seasoned shinobi. He will be able to take a large stepping stone in his career, and be aware of its significance. Freezing up in battle would not be a problem now.

Naruto was now jumping through the trees, just like he had been doing for 2 full days now. He was challenging himself with trying to expand his already large stamina reserves and run at full speed. As a result, he is reaching his destination one full day early.

He had received, in the dead of night, a mission briefing of upmost importance. So Naruto, two days ago, embarked on his first C class solo mission.

Apparently, the mayor of a local town was being held hostage by a local bandit gang. These people are below even the Yakuza, so they were the trash of the trash. Problem was, this trash apparently had a lot of shiny, pointy, swords. It was only by chance that Konoha was even hearing of this. It was so out of reach within the borders of Konoha, the town's residence had to be made up of about 70 people.

The mayor's son escaped, and vowed to pay a hefty sum for his father's well being and the termination of his attackers.

So, 20 bandits and one hostage between his first solo mission being a success. He was arriving near the outskirts now.

Carefully hiding in the tree lines, he stood and evaluated the town before him. It was very plain looking. It was, however, based on a mountain side passage. One side of the town was blocked off by jagged mountain terrain. He approached slowly from the right side, and quickly found a break in the defensive wall, allowing him to spot 2 bandit guards at the opening.

They were just standing around, not even chatting. They seemed to be nervous…

Naruto took his time, slipped two kunai out of his holsters, crouched, and executed his plan.

He dashed at the first bandit from the side, ramming a kunai through his windpipe and using him as a spring board to flip off and ram his remaining kunai on top of the others head. He then dragged both bodies to bushes, not even caring that one man was still bleeding out.

Sticking to the shadows of late afternoon, he got access to one of the larger roofs. He came to the conclusion that either the mayor's son was lying, or the 20 extra bandits that he is seeing was backup. Either way, this just means that those two guard's deaths will be discovered all the sooner. He made about 10 Kage-Bunshin when he thought the coast was clear. Giving his clones a mental command, they would now begin setting non-area destruction traps all along suggested bandit paths.

He then spotted the mayor's residence, where he was being held. Half of it was facing the mountain, so he proceeded to try and find an entrance way there.

Luck! He found a second story window. Carefully scaling the wall with chakra, he peeked in.

He was lucky today indeed. He found the mayor, tied up, with only one guard. Problem was, the guard was facing the window. He wasn't seen by pure chance, but no doubt the element of surprise would be lost if he just barged in. And 40…38 bandits were a large amount of bandits to handle at once with a hostage on the line. One of his Kage-Bunshin dispersed, feeding information into him. Apparently, the rest of the townspeople were not present in the town. Probably released when the badits found out who the Mayor was. He sent a command to his clones to set time-based traps to detonate as close to stationary guards as possible, and to cover their escape. He set his clones to time it for exactly three minutes.

So he popped open the window next door. He unsheathed his kunai, using its reflective tip as a mirror under the door. He spied only 1 bandit guarding the entrance, and one bandit patrolling the halls. He opened the door when the patrolling guard was walking by. Enticed by the curiosity of an open door, he looked around nervously. One kunai found its way across his neck, and all function ceased for the poor decapitated man. The kunai found its way around the corner to be thrown at the stationary guard's wind pipe, and the kunai was flung again to pin him to the doors frame.

Leaving his two kunai with explosive tags attached to the body, he opened the door and immediately stabbed the man guarding the inside in the back, on both lungs, and then through the head and neck. He heard some arguing in the room next door and across the hall. Seemed like an authoritarian tone.

Naruto asked the mayor "Are you injured? Can you walk?" He dumbly nodded, still looking at the carcass of the dead guard.

He made a single Kage-Bunshin, who carried the mayor outside the window and safely up the mountain somewhat. That bunshin had received a large supply of chakra, so he should be able to adequately protect the primary objective.

He scattered outside himself, to the mayor's roof. He mentally counted

'4…..3…..2…..1…..'

"Boom"

Fireworks were everywhere, dead bandits littering the streets. The fires were localized by dirt roads and didn't spread to the houses. But, that didn't stop the street dwellers from being caught in the intricate maze of explosives and fire.

By now, the bandits inside their makeshift camp are dead or about to die, the streets were cleared, and the guards to each house were already tagged with kunai to the head. His clones took defensive positions in the alleyways, looking for stragglers.

Assuming there were 40 bandits total, there should only be about 4 left. He sent one Kage-Bunshin into the mayor's house to scout, when it poofed back.

"Fuck!"

A blazing inferno came out of the roof, where he had been standing not a second ago.

And out of the mouth of fire, jumped a dark caped figure with a breath mask and a scratched out rain headband.

"Tshh…Such a large commotion for such a little ninja. Go back to Konoha _boy_ before the real shinobi decide to play rough."

"..." Naruto replied with silence, instead opting to stare his opponent down.

This seemed to incense the Ame Nuke-nin.

He charged headfirst towards Naruto, only to be tackled from above. It had been a bunshin he was dashing to!

**Bunshin Dai-bakuha!**

'_fuck!!'_ the Ame Nuke-nin crused in his head. The real one must have been hidden from him the whole time.

The explosion that ensued had covered most of the roof, launching a large amount of smoke into the air.

"That HURT you little prick!"

He emerged from the smoke, cape and mask burnt beyond salvage ability. Seemed like he was suffering from some burn marks along his right side a swell, from the way he seemed to be clutching it.

Although it didn't stop him from entering a handseal sequence. Naruto would not let him finish.

He threw two handfuls of shuriken, all dead on. This put the Ame Nuke-nin's attention in front of him long enough for Naruto to dash towards.

Unsheathing two kunai, he stabbed at the nuke-nin's shoulders in a reverse grip.

Only for said ninja to disperse into a spray of semi-warm water.

'Mizu-Bunshin!'

Whipping his head around, he was able to dodge the first three shuriken and started his own sequence of seals.

**Bunshin Dai-bakuha!**

The ensueing explosion covered the city below with enough of a distraction for the rain-nin to turn his head. He launched a few kunai with exploding tags, taking advantage of his enemy's distracted state. The Nuke-nin, was completely disformed this time. Probubly dead. He then went on to the mayor.

Killing, as Naruto read, is necessary to all forms of shinobi life. He didn't like it, but the mission parameters were clear, and he was duty bound to offer the secondary objectives to the mayor.

Taking the head of the dead bandits as proof and burning the remains were always the hardest parts…

The next two days travel were used for analyzing his battle. He found that no major tactical errors were present on his end. He did exactly what the books said he should against a much larger force. He utilized stealth. He rather liked that, and made it a mental point to get further training in the subject. He resolved to also increase his speed. He has to be ready the next time. Clones and **Bunshin Dai-bakuha **will not work on every ninja. This one just happened to be a Genin class Nuke-nin.

He also resolved to get some scrolls on sealing…those explosive tags were very expensive…and perhaps he can think of a way to retrieve his swords more efficiently when thrown…

He also resolved to start eating better. His height was a sore spot for him, and extra reach was important to his combat style.

When he reached his village's gates, Naruto made a bee-line to the Hokage Tower.

Traveling into Tsunade's office after sensing no presences, he began to give his full debrief. After explaining to Tsunade the completion of all objectives to include the secondary ones.

She was impressed

"Very well Naruto, but I'm afraid you won't have much time to celebrate. Your next mission is in a week. Rest up, this next one will be a B rank escort mission.

He smirked

He took out a Genin class nuke-nin, and it took him a lot of effort and stealth abilities to do so. He would continue to work his way up the ladder. He would strive for the recognition.

He couldn't really describe the feeling, but it just felt…right.

He loved this feeling, this feeling of accomplishment. He didn't even want praise, he just wanted…to serve. ..

Yes, this is what all shinobi should feel when completing a mission. He wanted more. More experience, more power, more skills, jutsu, and techniques. And he would strive to have them, because it let him serve better. It let him feel…right…

**End Chapter 2 Mission 1: Sympathy for the Devil**

**Authors Note**

There will be a time skip next chapter that will pick up 1 year after shippuden (so 4 years, making Naruto and gang 18..or 19 for Team Gai).


	3. Chapter 3 of Fire and Steel and Blood

"Soo…I hear that you-know-who has his first day off in 4 years." The blonde commented to her pink haired friend.

It wasn't everyday that Ino and Sakura had lunch. In fact, it wasn't even every month. Each had grown and matured, and while still trying to be friends, their shinobi duties didn't exactly leave a lot of time to 'catch up'.

"Ah, ya. I hear he's finally coming off the preffered duty roster." Said Sakura solemly.

Naruto had become a bit of a sore subject for all of the Rookie Nine. It wasn't as bad as Sasuke's defection, but Naruto's isolation from everyone was a bit…sudden? Unplanned? No, above all, it was out of character.

They would have understood if he went on a training mission, but Naruto was still living in the village. That is, when he wasn't on a mission. Sakura only found out about it after a month of being apprenticed to Tsunade. Apparently, the last 3 years of service Naruto had been completing had all been done outside of Konoha. He hadn't even slept here for more than a month since he started on the preffered duty roster, and even that one month was at the very start. After that, he just got chain missions from messenger birds and relay points with courier ninja.

She had wondered if Naruto had changed. She certainly had. Gone were the childish attitudes of their Genin days.

Sakura was a powerful Jounin, taking on A-ranked missions all the time with other powerful Jounin. She kept her hair short, and modified her clothes for more flexability. This translated into a slit skirt with lycra undershorts, a pink loose shirt, and her signature leather boots with matching leather gloves.

She was well on her way to becoming a medic-nin worthy of the title of surpassing Tsunade herself.

"C'mon Sakura, he's your teammate. I know no one has really seen him for the last 4 years even though hes been under our noses, but still…"

The bond of a Genin cell is never broken, they say…

"Well, he's scheduled to come back at 1800 hours today."

Between friends, the implication was obvious.

"Sure Sakura, I'll be there. I'll try to get the rest of us to come as well." Ino said, cheerily.

Ino had come into her own as well. Her hair still long and in a ponytail, she somehow seemed more mature. She lost her skimpy clothing, and instead opted for shinobi pants and a turtleneck. Of course, both were skin tight and had several armoured points on it. She also donned a dark brown trench coat.

"Right, thanks Ino. I'll see you there." Sakura replied with cheer in her voice.

They both had some more small talk, paid for their bills, and left.

'I guess it might be good to get some rest…' Naruto thought as he approached the large wooden gates of Konoha.

'It has been a while…hasn't it…'

He strode, slowly and gracefully towards the gates, at a civilians pace.

His choice of clothing had changed and evolved over the years. He decided, after many bloody and brutal battles across several countries, that while seriousness and professionalism was of the upmost importance, a life without some spice is not worth living. No, instead, he settled for a healthy mix of stealth and style.

He wore a thin and ornate outfit consisting of a black and orange lined and ornated Gi and skinny Hakama with black ninja sandlas, and over that he wore a thin version of samurai armour with elongated thigh guards and a smaller chest peice. All in all, he looked like he had come from a very elegant diplomatic setting.

The clothes and armour were ornated with such great detail and the orange popped up against the black so much, he looked like royalty of the highest caliber.

The Gi itself looked like it would cost more than a normal man could afford in a lifetime of saving.

Form gave way to function though, with the leaf symbol engraved on his chest peice in brushed metal in the upper center of his chest piece. He topped all of this off a pure black cloak much like the Akatsuki wore, only the collar a little bit smaller and wider and the coat itself a litte sturdier. He wore it with only the middle button closed. This allowed the front to show off the more decorated parts of his armour underneath, and seemed to put a portrait around the leaf symbol. To complete his look, he carried his signature scarf, only with it dyed orange instead of red.

His physique had also changed dramatically. He stood at 5'11", with a thin and wiry frame. His hair still short, now seemed to be much more tamed. He let it fall over his forehead and it seemed much more matted than it used to be. He also sported 3 peircings on his left ear and thinner, fainter whisker marks. His eyes were still the same, yet all the baby fat that was shed made them seem more angular, more intense. Yes, he had matured. A lot.

He sauntered up to the gates and stopped. Four black cloaked Anbu appear before him.

"Identify yourself." Their leader spoke. This wasn't exactly normal procedure for returning shinobi, but the gate guards had not recognized him as a leaf shinobi and pushed the panic button.

Naruto responded by slipping his hand out of his sleeve and pulling out a booklet the size of his hand. He reached out from his robes and extended his armoured arms to the Anbu captain.

"Uzumaki, Naruto. Reporting in off the preffered duty roster."

The Anbu looked at him suspiciously. He then unsheathed his sword in the blink of an eye and attempted to close the ten meters in front of him with a blinding sprint.

The rest of his team was caught off-guard by their captain's quick assault. It was procedure to at least attempt to verify the identification papers if offered before any violence could ensue. Never-the-less, the captains subordinates quickly drew their own weapons and were prepared to step in should their captain need assistance.

Naruto, for his part, seemed a little too calm. In what seemed an inhuman display of muscle control, he pushed off backwards, seemingly gliding over the surface at the same exact pace the Anbu captain was approaching, keeping his attackers sword at a constant 6 inches away from his now retracted arm.

The Anbu, in increasing his speed, tried to chop at his opponent vertically. Only for Naruto to evade the blow by slightly pivoting his body rapidly. The process repeated about 4 times with variations of horizontal and vertical strikes in quick succession. Before anyone had known, the Anbu had backed Naruto up to within 5 meters of a large oak tree. He then threw his sword at Naruto's head, only for Naruto to avoid the blade by tilting his head to the side.

Although the blade missed him by centimeters, Naruto did not even blink.

He did, however, notice the exploding tag on the swords hilt when it was stuck inside a tree.

'You'll have to do better than that.' He thought

The Anbu did not stop there, instantly going into handseals.

"**Karyudan no jutsu!**"

The flaming dragon rose into the sky for twenty meteres before spinning and dancing rapidly to its target. The tag and the jutsu impacted at the same time and the two explosions amplified each other exponentially.

The sortie had winded the Anbu, but the fight wasn't over yet. Not until he saw the body. He signaled his other subordinates to surround the blast area. They appeared quickly and waited for the smoke to clear.

Nothing

The explosion was powerful, but it shouldn't have disintegrated its target. At the very least there should be some clothes or tatters somewhere.

The Anbu captain was frantically scanning the woods, thinking a possible pursuit would ensue. Instead…

He noticed an orange scarf dance in front of him in the wind.

Just as he noticed the stray garment must have been attached to something, he got whacked on the head with a stack of papers.

Naruto had appeared behind him, back facing Kakashi.

"If you wanted to spar, Kakashi-sensei, you should have asked when I got debriefed." Naruto stated with a slight, almost unnoticeable smile.

Kakashi's wide eyes behind his dog mask slowly shrunk to normal size, and then to a closed smile.

"It really is you." He said, without turning around.

"You should really pick a different mask sensei, no one else in Konoha has a dog mask. Not even the Inuzuka. It's too much of a giveaway." He chuckled slightly.

Kakashi turned to Naruto as naruto turned to Kakashi, finally sizing him up. Everything about Naruto seemed to be different. He seemed to radiate power now. In the back of his mind, Kakashi knew Naruto was merely toying with him.

'How strong have you become, really…Naruto?'

Kakashi patted Naruto on the shoulder.

"Naruto, it's good to have you back finally. We should catch up tonight, maybe have some sake and we can discuss what you've been up to." He spoke in a friendly tone.

"For sure, sensei."

"Good. I'll see you after your debriefing then." He spoke, smiled, and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

He was never more proud of his wayward student than he was at this very moment. And that was saying a lot, considering all Naruto had done and overcome in his short years of shinobi service.

Naruto smiled, and started walking towards the slowly opening massive wooden gates.

'Might be good to rest a little bit indeed…' he thought to himself with a smirk.

The sun was about to set, and the orange glow began to accent and shadow everything in sight. Which is why this regal figure with a black cloak seemed all the more regal and mysterious. Of all the Rookie Nine, not one of them knew who exactly they were looking at. But…Ino had her suspicions. She remembered picking out Naruto's first outfit, and the scarf gave him away even though it was a different color.

He stopped right in front of the entire group.

Ino still had no idea how every single member of the Rookie Nine AND Team Gai all had the night off at the same time. She would later find out this was Tsunades doing, but not for many, MANY years to come. Digression aside, the Rookie nine had the next 15 minutes all to themselves, and they all showed up.

The figure, who had been walking with his eyes closed, had finally opened them.

A piercing shade of blue lighter than the sky but deeper than the oceans.

A deep but firm and soft voice spoke out from the scarf that covered his mouth.

"Tadaima."

The group stood bewildered. All except for one.

"Okaerinasai" Ino responded, softly, but clearly.

The sun decided that this moment in time, was the perfect time to completely set. And as nightfall bloomed in the city, too soon for outside lights to be turned on, Naruto's eyes seemed to glow almost ethereally and become softer.

Naruto, saw Ino with green eyes instead of blue for a moment, and remembered the scent of the sweet ocean breeze and wild berries.

"Naruto…" Sakura was the first to break the awkward silence.

She let a few stray tears escape her eyes, and lunged forward, hugging Naruto.

"Don't leave me again, ok?"

Naruto returned the hug with one arm, eyes shifting from Sakura, back to Ino.

"I won't leave again Sakura, I promise."

"And you always keep your promises, Naruto, don't you?" Ino chimed.

'yes…I do…and especially for you…' Naruto thought, remembering a fond memory.

The rest of the post dusk minutes flew by with questions and and handshakes. The Rookie Nine were flabbergasted at Naruto's appearnece and demeanor. He seemed more like royalty to them than the Naruto they all knew and shared their childhoods with. Never-the-less, they all looked forward to working with him on missions and off-mission gatherings. Though, those would have to wait. Only Ino and Sakura were in town for more than tonight, so everyone else had missions to prepare for.

As everyone left and only Ino, Sakura, and Naruto had remained, they all made their way to the Hokage tower. All three intent on seeing the Hokage. But two of them only for the purpose of seeing Tsunades face when she debriefed '_Naruto_'.

"Say Sakura," Naruto began talking to Sakura on his right "me and Kakashi are headed to a bar tonight to catch-up. Would you like to come along? Id'e like to know what my teammate has been up to."

"Sure!" She exclaimed, happy to see some of the old Naruto left.

"You can come too, Ino, if you would like?"

Ino, who had been straggling behind them and feeling the third wheel, was a little surprised.

However, if Ino had learned ANYTHING in the past four years, it was to never pass up a good opportunity.

"Sure, id'e like that a lot, Naruto-kun".

Sakura looked back at Ino in slight but hidden confusion. Why had she agreed so readily? Why had she attached a suffix of endearment to Naruto's name? As far as Sakura knew, Ino and Naruto were never that close…

She dismissed her line of thought on the subject as irrational. ______________________________________________________________________________

And just like that, Konohagakure's prodigal son had returned. The birth of a legend had been forged in fire and steel and blood.

But…

The coming era of blood would test the mettle of all and break all but the most hardened warriors. The transition from a legend to a God, well, that was always a bloody ordeal.

Uzumaki Naruto had returned, and blood would flow in his wake wherever he went, without fail. For that, is the life of a shinobi, the life of a legend, the life of a God.


	4. Chapter 4 Wayward Son

The two teams headed off to search and destroy an Akatsuki base in River Country. We find Naruto leading Team Kakashi and Team Gai. Normally, Naruto's two old teachers would be running the mission, but Tsunade relinquished a favor to Naruto.

It did not bother Gai much, as Naruto's mission records spoke for themselves. Kakashi, on the other hand, while still proud of his student, was feeling a little underestimated. He belived Naruto was close to surpassing him at his current level, but wouldn't be up to par with Konoha's second White Fang.

Sakura was unsure if Naruto was up to par as well. Team Gai, for the most part, went along like any good shinobi would. Saving the small talk for rest periods. This was a high priority A-Rank possible S-Rank mission as it turned out…

They neared the gorges that separated Sand Country from River and Fire. Naruto's mission parameters allowed him little deviation from standard procedure, but Naruto was never a standard kind of person. He stopped on the last tree in the Gorge, eliciting a stop for everyone else.

He spoke to everyone while facing Sand country.

"Sakura, you take Lee and TenTen to the Sand village. Continue with the secondary objective (reffering to Suna's call for a medical specialist)."

He turned to the North, facing the Groge's natural borders between Sand and River.

"The rest of us will split into two groups. Kakashi will be with Gai, and Neji will be with myself. We will procede up along the length of the gorge. Neji, keep North with Kakashi and keep your Byakugan active at all times. I will be with Gai along side you two on the southern edge. Radio first, engage later."

This shocked everyone, but more so to Kakashi and Gai. It was almost standard procedure for two teams to move together, one supporting the other. Naruto's plan called for a 'Divide and Conquer' agenda. This agenda was seen as the only thing that separated Konoha from the rest. It was their Will of Fire. As if Naruto was reading their minds, he spoke up.

"This is an order from a Commanding Officer. GO!"

No sooner than he finished his last syllabul, did all the ninja vanish into blurs.

Five hours later with Sakura

They had finally arrived at the Village Gates, the entrance still caved in from the attack just 12 hours ago. They quickly found a Chuunin guard and had him escort them to the acting commander.

Baki was just finishing a rather heated strategy conversation with the council. They were already trying to replace the Missing Kazekage. He spotted the three ninja's from Konoha enter the council chambers. He was silently fuming. He remembered the little pink one. She could not even beat a fly, from what he saw in the preliminaries all those years ago. Konoha had basically spat on his face if THESE are the kind of reinforcements they offered. She was the first one to break the silence.

"Sand-nin-san, we are reinforcements from Konoha. The rest of our team veered off the intercept the Akatsuki at their base. "

There was another pause.

Again, she broke the silence.

"I was told there are wounded. I am a fully trained med-nin, which is why I was sent."

Baki's demeanor pulled a 180.

"Kankuro, the Kazekage's brother, is the only surviving wounded. We have had extensive medical support active on him for the last 10 hours, but his condition is only worsening. Chiyo, one of our village elders, is on her way right now to see if she can help. You may assist if youd'e like.

She nodded, and sent out to work on the injured Sand-nin.

It would take her four hours to stabilize him, and another hour or so to come up with the antetdote.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

1 hour after Sakura had finished stabilizing Kankuro

The four Jounin were travelling for quite a while, before they came to a screeching halt from Naruto's voice in their earpieces.

"Tracks on the Southern Gorge, they are fresh. Couldn't have been more than an hour or so ago that these two sets went by, heading North. Neji, increase your range of sight."

Neji, standing up on his tree branch, began pumping the maximum amount of chakra his Byakugan could handle, and stared for a good 2 minutes to the North before he cut off the power.

"There is a Cave 3 miles North of here that I cannot see inside. There are, however, chakra signitures coming from a boulder and four other points along the way. "

Naruto was beside him in a second.

"Kakashi, you take Gai and circle from the west. I will take Neji and circle from the East. Radio silent unless backup is needed."

They sprung into action once more, and found Naruto and Neji on the cliff of the cave's base.

After a while of Naruto just standing there, Neji was about to speak, when Naruto cut him off again.

"Kakashi, Gai, stop your advance and fall back into the Gorge. Set up an ambush point. Also, send the medical team a mission update via pigeon."

He spoke into his intercom, then shut it off and turned to face Neji.

"Keep your eyes on the four points". He spoke.

Neji complied.

After about 10 seconds of observation, Naruto turned and jumped onto the water.

'A four souls passage seal…impressive, but they forgot that a variant souls seal has a weakness to a certain elemental combination. "

Slipping his right hand from out of his outer cloak sleeve, he reached into a pocket on his right chest inside the cloak.

He began to reach out with his senses.

'Two heartbeats, but ten chakra signitures. Probubly a projection jutsu…But Gaara's heartbeat is slowly coming to a stop. Perfect. Even if I got here earlier, I would have waited for this moment.'

Snapping his eyes open, he pulled out a blue chakra tag from his inside pocket and slammed it onto the boulder. Letting the right side of his coat fall off his frame slightly, he pulled his arm free to expose the armour underneath. He leaped back thirty feet and held his hand in the ram seal.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Inside the cave

"Diedara, Sasori, someone is about to breach the cave. Stop the sealing immediately. Sasori, you stay behind and engage the enemy. Deidara, you take the Kazekage and head South West, towards Fire Country. Zetsu will meet up with you after that."

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"Katsu" He shouted, and the tag was lit.

After a .5 second delay, the tag burnt up completely and its ashes, still stuck to the stone, began glowing a blue.

Naruto's eyes glowed that same blue.

The ashes creeped up across and above the boulder at an alarming pace, freezing everything it touched.

"Neji, I am engaging, the entrance and engage any who flee. Our priority is the Kazekage."

Neji, muttering a "Hai" over the microphone, crouched in a ready position on top of the cave mouth.

It was then that Naruto charged forward while going through several handseals.

"Katon: Karyuudan no jutsu!"

The massive fire red dragon rose from the tip of scarf fabric closest to his mouth, and slung itself at high speed towards the iced over boulder. The flames drenched the ice and melted most of it off. Naruto, never breaking stride, pumped a great deal of chakra to his fist, and leveled a monstrous punch to the spot where the initial seal had activated.

The boulder crumbled and imploded, the shockwave loud enough for Kakashi and Gai to get nervous.

Walking in just as the dust had settled, he spotted two enemies. Two Akatsuki members. He also spotted a nearly dead nearly alive Gaara. Gaara was doing fine, lying down prone on the center of the cave. The blond Akatsuki member had a large stone shrapnel embedded in his left shoulder, and the hunched over Akatsuki seems to be fine.

'The blood will make him easier to track if the blonde one takes flight.'

"Surrender the Kazekage, or face die trying to take him."

The two Akatsuki exchanged a sideways glance, and both sprang into action at the same time.

Sasori launched a volley of poison needles at Naruto, while Deidara started moulding clay and pickup up Gaara with his available hand.

Before the needles hit Naruto dead-on, he whispered into his microphone.

"Enemy fleeing with primary objective."

The needles clunked into soft flesh. Naruto began falling down right as Deidara was taking off with Gaara, via a clay jutsu. Naruto's form began to glow a faint blue…only Sasori noticed though.

"Deidara! Bunshin Daibakuha!"

Deidara widened his eyes. He could try to make it out of blast radious, but he might not. It was going to be close.

A massive explosion rocked the cave as dust flew everywhere. The deafening boom gave way to a ringing silenc.

Sasori jumped up right before a large double sided blade pierced the gravel where he once stood. Not stopping his accent, he stuck to the roof of the cave and prepared to go into handseals. It was then he noticed the exploding tags under his feet. Breaking his sequence and accelerating his jump to the floor below, he noticed he lost track of the Konoha-nin again. The explosion rocked the cave once more, breaking a large hole in the middle where daylight pierced the dusty darkness.

As he waited for the dust to settle, he wondered if his partner managed to escape in time. This Konoha-nin is good…

_____________________________________________________________________________________

With Deidara

He had managed to escape the explosion by using his jutsu as a shield. The damn Konoha-nin's budy was hot on his trail now, though. Neji would not allow him the time to mold anymore clay for transportation. So Deidara had tried to flee on foot, Gaara's weight seemingly not slowing him down.

He was about to reach the Gorge when he heard another explosion coming from the cave. Shrugging it off, he was about to pass over the Gorge when…

_____________________________________________________________________________________

With Naruto

"You can't beat me, boy. You have some moves, I'll give you that, but…"

"Sasori of the Red Sands. True age, 63 years. Wanted for the kidnapping of the Sandaime Kazekage, and evedentally the Rokudaime too…"

"So you know a little about me. Yet I know nothing about you." Sasori half mocked, half questioned.

Silence was his answer.

The dust settled and Sasori was starring at the blonde konoha-nin, who was hanging upside down directly above him. They both stared up, before Naruto sprung into action. Forming a few handseals, he whispered…

"Kirigakure no jutsu!"

Steam rose up and shrouded the cave once again, this time not even letting sunlight in. This was the thickest Kirigakure jutsu Sasori had ever seen. His hackles rose on the back of his neck before he crouched low, avoiding a thrown kunai.

'I don't have a heartbeat or repiratory system. How can he tell where I am when I stop moving?!'

Jumping to a new location, he rolled to the side, escaping another barrage of kunai.

'I can't fight like this!'

Going into a few short handseals, he shouted,

"Futon: Daibakuha no jutsu!"

A great wind blew away most of the steam out of the roof's hole, but a kunai strick both his hands, pinning them to the wall next to Sasori.

Detaching his arms without missing a beat, he set his large tail in motion. Thrusting it into the large leftover steam cloud that was left, he heard a slicing sound and retracted. He soon found his tail to be severed in half almost at the middle.

Naruto chose that moment to come barreling out of the smoke. His torso free of his outer robe, armour exposed and two Katana's on each outstretched arm. Sasori, setting in motion his escape plan, activated his outer puppet shell to self destruct.

As Naruto was just about to stab the out puppet through its heart, the puppet glowed bright red and exploded.

Sasori, now in his main body, surveyed the landscape of the cave for the body. When he saw the giant dome Earth barrier, he set about popping a scroll from his back into his hands, and if loading it. He began to pump water at at alarming pressure, severing boulders cleanly, and set it on the barrier.

Cut in half, the barrier collapsed and a dusty figure flew out of the rubble, and charged Sasori from the front.

Sasori raised his arms to fire, but missed because of a blurring after-image of his real target.

"kai!" He roared and took aim again.

But it was too late, the Genjutsu Naruto had cast was effective at buying him the precious time he needed to stab Sasori through the shoulder, and tugging, ripping Sasori's wooden appendage free of the wooden body. His other sword, stopped his Sasori's other hand at the hilt.

Elbowing Sasori in the head, he jarred his other sword hand towards Sasori's remaining wrist.

Sasori snarled and leapt back.

"Lets see how you face the power of a master puppet ninja! Face the most fearsome sight in the Second shinobi war! The Red Army!"

His chest cavity opened, unfurling a scroll along with it. A massive poof and a gust of wind later, Sasori was smiling as he stared at the Konoha-nin with a predatory smile.

All the Red Army attacked at once…

_____________________________________________________________________________________

With Deidara

…was about to pass over the Gorge, when…

A local explosion of his own took down the tree he currently occupied. Dropping his objective roughly on the ground, he looked up to see several kunai bearing down upon him.

Ducking and rolling to the right, Deidara didn't have the time to stand because of the exploding notes he was attached to the Kunai.

The noted sizzled and nothing happened.

'A trick!' he thought. He chastised himself for not knowing that the Konoha ninja were after the Kazekage, and wouldn't put him in harms way if they had a choice.

Standing up and about to leap, he was kicked back by a devastating force that looked like a green blur. The next thing he knew, he started hearing birds chirping.

Leaping straight up and molding some clay, he looked down to see a masked Konoha-nin standing where he was just a second ago.

Smiling as he finished molding his clay, he shouted.

"Eat this you fools!"

Twenty clay spiders rained down on Gaara and Kakashi, right before each attached to its target and detonated.

Sasori knew it was a clone though, and kept a few grasshoppers attached to his robe.

Landing, Gai manged to blurr in again and slap two explosive noted on his right sleeve, then kick him in the ribs. Gai heard the telltale sound of a breaking rib as Deidara hurled across the Gorge before landing into a couple trees and exploding as the notes went off.

When the dust settled, Deidara was seen panting heavily, grasping at a fearsomely bleeding stump of an arm.

'Dammit! These weaklings expected this and set up an ambush! This isn't looking good. Sasori will just have to fend for himself. I have to abandon the Kazekage as well….'

Raising his arms from his bloody stump, he yelled in an insane shout,

"KATSU! HAHAHA!"

Kakashi and Gai's eyes widen, now noticing the two grasshoppers on the Kazekage's form.

BOOOM

The two grasshoppers detonated, and both Konoha Jounin where trying as hard as they could to find Gaara and get him some medical attention before it was too late.

While the enemy was distracted, Deidara formed a clay bird and mounted it. He began to fly off as he shouted something before he left.

"As long as he has the Ichibi, we will come for him!"

Locating Gaara's body was a shocker. Gaara's unconscious sand armour had defended most of the blast. It looked like internal bleeding might be a problem though. Remembering his mission report to Sakura, he realized she should be here within twenty minutes. He radioed Naruto.

"Primary objective retrieved but he need medical attention. Medical is on the way, ETA twenty minutes, and our combatant has fled heavily wounded."

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Hearing the news of Gaara's situation, he opened his eyes to stare at the cave, and Sasori directly in front of him.

The cave was a veritable war zone. Sasori's entire red Army was reduced to cinders or splinters. Various weapons stuck out of some of the soldiers, while Sasori himself stood behind the remaining four.

Narutos now blaringly glowing eyes reduced their ambient light to a low fluorescent hum.

Four Kunai impacted the remaining Red Army soldiers from behind, downing them instantly.

Sasori, now trying to keep his distance and senses locked onto the two dopplegangers.

'He's toying with me! He's been toying with me this whole time! This is no normal shinobi!'

As the silent pause permeated the air, a thick mood had calmed Sasori down a little.

"What is it that you want"? He asked cryptically.

"I want some information on an underling of Orochimaru."

Closing his eyes for a few seconds and reopening them, Sasori spoke.

"In exactly seven days from now at high noon, a spy that works for me will meet me at the Heaven and Earth bridge."

He put on his serious face. Sasori had always resolved, that a true shinobi will fight to his last breath.

It was then the Sasori heard the most chilling thing the blonde Konoha-nin could have ever said.

"I show you mercy so that you may finally live."

'I show you mercy so that you may live…that's….that was what _he_ is rumored to say before he kills. His rumor had sprung up about two years ago. It was of a man, a wraith, a god among shinobi. It is said that he is the most powerful man in the world. That with a single glance of his eyes, he can rip out a mans soul. He thought it was just some urban myth, a tall tale…he now found he was wrong.

As nine swords came down onto his heart, the last thing he thought and said were,

"The Flame of Zero, Shessomaru…"

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Twenty minutes later, Sakura arrived at the seen with a contingent of Sand-Nin and a village elder, Chiyo.

After working on Gaara a bit to stabilize him, she asked for a mission update. Kakashi explained to her the plan and what happened.

"Every able bodied Suna-nin, follow me! There is still one Akatsuki in the cave!"

Instantly, everyone disappeared into a blur except for Chiyo and two other Sand-Nin to watch over Gaara.

When they arrived at the entrance to the cave, they were startled. Viewing inside the cave, which was a lot easier now that the entire roof was caved in, revealed some scene akin to an massive brutal ancient battle.

Human dummies littered the ground, and the center was an armless dummy, and Naruto holding two of the seven broad swords piercing the boy dummy's heart. The now recognized Akatsuki member fell to the ground lifeless, and Naruto began to put his robe in the proper place while walking out of the mouth of the cave gradually, slowly.

They noticed the glow in his eyes. They noticed that with every step, they glowed a little less, until he stopped in front of Kakashi and the Sand-nin.

The rest of the nin were shocked. Akatsuki were renound for being ruthless and over-powered. Yet this one Konoha-shinobi0 took him out without a scratch!

"Is Gaara stabilized?"

Kakashi, still looking at the battleground, nodded yes.

"Mission successful. Lets head back to Sand for debriefing."

He spoke into his microphone.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

One hour later.

Naruto and his two teams were found kneeling at the ground in front of the newly recovered Kazekage. The inner Kage Chamber wasn't a traditional office room, but rather a stone chamber cut in ornate patterns, with enough seating for twenty around a rectangular table. At the head of the table sat Gaara, on his stone throne and dawning his Kazekage's ceremonial robes.

He had already been filled in about the blank spots in his memory from Baki, welcoming him back to consciousness in Suna's hospital. His injuries were minor and he was back on his feet in no time.

The long, stone cut slit windows in the Kazekage's chambers created a stark contrast on the stony grey and red fabric adorned room. All was cast in a black, grainy grey texture. Washed of even the vibrant red fabric pieces adorning the room, the old Kazekage's of past loomed over their living counterpart's shoulders. Staring, forever locked in a gaze of intimidation.

"You don't have to bow to me, Naruto." He said with a voice that sounded very under used. He slowly got up from his stone throne, and started walking up to Naruto.

Naruto, for his part, did not look up from his almost ceremonial pose.

"Rise. So I may thank the man who saved me." Gaara finally said, trepidation forming in his throat once he spoke. He had the man responsible for not only saving his life four years ago kneeling in front of him. This man saved him from his own personal Hell. And now, the same man had drug him back from the underworld again. Gaara had never known such honor, to fight and risk death for another. And another from a rival village, no less.

If even Naruto had fallen, had caved in or changed…what hope was their for the villages but endless war? What hope would humanity have? Gaara, would never know how right he was.

Finally, he stood and opened his eyes. It was then that Gaara had noticed the light, a low buzz in his eyes.

"It was my honor to serve, Kazekage-dono."

Gaara had taken too many courses, had too much experience in politics not to notice that Naruto was acting like said politicians now. And with a flawless tact, no less. A very little part of Gaara died that day. Small, but never more significant.

Naruto turned to Kakashi.

"Meet me at the gates at high-noon."

Kakashi nodded, and signaled to the rest of the team to dispurse and regroup at their pre-designated locations.

Dissapearing into a blur, the Kazekage and Konoha-nin stood and stared for a while.

"How may I show a token of gratitude to who saved me?"

Gaara, deviating a little from ceremonial protocol, asked what Naruto wanted in return. Not his village…

"Gaara. Why is it you think I saved you?"

All at once the blonde Jinchuriki's demeanor changed. An air of calm and collective seriousness replaced the mist of formality.

"Why is it that you saved me last time?" Gaara quickly responded.

The air still thick with tension, Naruto finally responded.

"Gaara…Do you know what makes you different from other leaders? Do you know what seperates a legend from a God?"

Gaara knew enough to know that this question was unanswerable. The only person that would know that answer is Kami himself. The turn of dialogue. The brief scent of insanity trickled in. Gaara did not like where this conversation was headed.

Naruto continued…

"A legend, is timeless. A legend will live on in his civilization until its very end, Gaara. A legend, never really dies."

Turning, walking past him and gesturing grandly to the stone figures in the room, the legends of the Kazekage's, accenting his speech. Placing an example to his words…

"But a GOD!" Naruto passionately exclaimed.

Hands extended, gesturing to the entire room.

"A GOD is never part of the cycle to begin with! A god is NOT some stone figure. He is not the ideal behind the man, nor is his memory sometimes remembered!"

Winding down…

"A legend continues the cycle. A God will break it."

Gaara, shocked beyond words. Confused. He let no gesture be unread on his face.

"You will understand at some point, Gaara, what I have said today."

Walking back, he slipped his hand out of his sleave, and produced a simple scroll.

Unfurling it, he showed Gaara a symbol.

"This, is my personal seal of authentification."

Gaara marveled at the intricacies of the seal. It was a remarkably detailed design. Truly, only the most proficient forgers would even think about cracking it. Still, Gaara was growing increasingly worried.

"In a few months time, you will receive a letter from me. It will bear this seal, so you know it is not a fake."

Gaara understood. The favor Uzumaki wanted would be sent at a later date. A lot of respect for Naruto died. Small, and significant. He, once so pure and idealistic, has become a politician himself…

All power corrupted, it seemed…

Walking away, back to back, he said before leaving.

"Of Gods and legend, Gaara, do you know what kind of leader you are?"

Gaara, had had enough. This once idol's lack of sane speech at the moment had broken the camels back.

He was about to shout to his blonde counterpart, when Naruto beat him to it.

"You, Kazekage-dono, are nothing but a messenger. Of days to come, of days that lead up to. You, are perhaps the most important."

He left. Gaara hadn't even sensed him go.

1 hour later, at Suna's rocky gates.

"So sensei, what exactly did you see in that cave?"

When Sakura had asked Kakashi that last, all she got as a response was a chilled look from him. She knew her sensei enough to realize that that time was right to ask.

"Sakura…has Naruto seemed…strange to you lately?"

That was like asking if the sky was blue. She did not know where to start. Everything about him was completely different from the way she remembered Naruto from four years ago. The way he dressed, acted, ate, carried himself, you name it. Everything that was once considered Naruto-eque, was the polar opposite of how he is now.

At first, she was welcome to see the change. The warm genuine small, the actuall happiness when Naruto came back, shadowed who he had become. She noticed it more and more until it hit her like a brick wall. When Naruto had commanded, ruthlessly and without room for debate, for the two teams to split up…

She knew that the person she formed a bond with all those years ago was gone, and a stranger had taken his place.

"I know what you mean…" She responded.

A silence in which only the dust carried on the wind made any noise proceeded for a couple of moments.

"Sakura…do you know what seperates a Jounin from a Saanin? A Kage from a Chuunin?"

The answer was obvious to Sakura. She knew Kakashi knew it too. Gesturing for him to get to the point, Kakashi continued.

"There are very few differences, quintessentially…

All of them are shinobi. All of them fight for someone or something.

But, besides the power, a chuunin will never beat a Kage. Not because of chakra or experience, but because of the art…"

Sakura, still confused, gestured further.

"…We are all taught the ways of the shinobi, in very similar ways. The academies in Sand ar not much different than in Konoha. Instead of teamwork, they emphasize efficiency. But everything else is the same. Yet there are great ninja from every country, matching and exceeding the power of our own. The explanation for this, of why not all of us can reach the level of a Kage, or even a Chuunin, are the differences in will power and the way one will see the world."

Explaning further, after a sigh, he began…

"When I was a Chuunin, I operated by the book. I did not use any signature moves, and I completed all my missions with a clean and impeccable record. I always killed who I was supposed to, and I never let my client be targeted. But, I began to stagnate…

I found I could not climb to a higher level. I was stuck at the branch I was on, my body refusing to take me any higher. Do you know why that is, Sakura?"

She had felt like her sensei was practically handing her the knowledge of how to be a legend. Never-the-less, Kakashi knew she owuldn't know the answer. And he continued again.

"It was because my view of the world held no room for adaptation. I thought that there was always one road to take, one move to counter another. I thought that the key to power was willpower alone. I was dead wrong…

I could only see the world through my own eyes. When I started to think, to ponder the reasons why I did the things I did with ruthless certainty that they were the best, I began to see the world for what it was. I understood that two roads can take a man to the same place. I understood that those roads can be traveled and traveled again. But a man can only travel that road a certain number of times before he wishes not to anymore. I realized that the threshold of power, that invisible ceiling blocking my accent, wasn't my body. It wasn't even the way I fought. It was how I thought. How I perceived the world. The weakness, was my spirit.

I had set out to correct my personal revalations. I spent months, reconstructing everything I did from a different point of view. I became someone who I never was, and in some ways, never wanted to be. I became Hatake Kakashi, Konoha's Copy-Cat Ninja."

He winded down….

Sakura, putting the puzzle pieces together, asked,

"What did you see in that cave, sensei?"

Kakashi thought back to the cave, the sight that greeted his open sharingan eye. He was sure no one else noticed it. Only he an Neji, whom had his eye deactivated at the time, would be able to. The battlefield, devoid of life but one. A brutal King of the Hill tournament with the spotlight in the middle. Bodies strewn, but not at random. Every fallen foe, a method to the madness. An intricate painting began to form in Kakashi's eyes. He saw the chakra flows. He saw the vibrant, plush red chakra. He saw the smooth, almost painted on edges. Chakra normally froms in wisps, in blurs and auras. This chakra, was like a work of art. Finely detailed, if Kakashi did not know the images were coming from the sharingan, he really would believe he was looking at a moving oil painting.

It was not only science of it, but the scope. They extended everywhere. Through the bodies, through the Sand-nin at the cave, through Kakashi himself. In finely brushed strokes or wide swelling waves, the chakra ran through everything. Most alarming, the strands were coming from the top of the hill. From Naruto. From Kakashi's left ey …his red, glowing eyes, and in Kakashi's right eye, blue and glowing….

"What happened at that cave…What Sasori of the red sands witnessed before he died…maybe it was the purest form of the shinobi arts a man can witness…or maybe…it was the glowing art of a powerfull madman…"

Naruto walked into the group of shinobi at high noon. The gates now bashed in a wash of white desert light. He seemed to turn to the distance in the sky. Not long after, the rest of the nin saw a small redish falcon appear out of the coulds, and land on Naruto outstretched hand.

Unclasping the note and reading it, he gave pause for a couple minutes.

Sakura, and Kakashi, already off-put by naruto's earlier stark actions, were further off-put by the falcon that just landed. The red falcon Hiroi was only used by the Royal Family of Fire Country. The Daimyou, the supreme ruler, almost never contacted shinobi besides the Hokage in this manner before.

"We are to leave immediately for the Heaven and Earth bridge. We will stay there until the we have retrieved one Sasuke Uchiha, killed Orochimaru, or both…or until I die…"

The cryptic mission, to have a nin use 'Any means possible', was usually a death sentence.

"After, we are to proceed to the country of Waves for another S-Rank mission. The retrieval and assassination mission will be ranked S-class. The next, however, will be SS-Rank Expeditionary.

Kakashi, as well as the rest of the group, was shocked. None had ever received an expeditionary mission before! To sail out of the elemental countries into the great beyond….no one really knew all that there was out there…

"Expeditionary? Isn't it customary to get a few weeks of vacation before?" Kakashi interjected, leveling a curious gaze towards the scroll.

"Not this time…"

He turned, and lit the scroll aflame with the touch of his left hand.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. Something was very wrong…

'Naruto…what made you like this?

What made you into this person?

Are you truly a master of the arts, able to perceive the world differently than anyone else before?

Or are you just an artistic madman?

Have you fallen?

Or can we just not see how far you have flown?

3 years ago

Coming back from a B-rank mission on the outskirts of Suna, Naruto spotted a red blur in the sky, and held the telltale squawk of a red messenger falcon.


	5. Chapter 5 The Begining of a Legend

Naruto was tired, thirsty, and exhausted. In addition to his clothes and gear, he sported a dark sandy brown robe, now reduced to taters from the harsh desert winds. Shielding his eyes from the errant sand grains wisped up by the gusts, he heard the tell-tale sound of a hawk messenger bird. Coming to a stop, he extended his hand and the bird landed. The mild sandstorm around them prompted Naruto to quickly snatch the message and startle the bird on its way home. He sighed…

'Why is it that she seems to know exactly when I finish every mission?' He strained.

He had just come back from a B-class assassination mission. Some rogue chuunin from the Mist had apparently taken it upon himself to murder a supply convoy and high tail it into the desert in Wind country. He gave Naruto an almost even fight. But in the end, a Rasengan was his trump card. He had taken to using it more ever since he found a way to put a thin layer of wind chakra around it, effectively silencing the technique and making it extremely suitable for field assassinations. He was looking forward to at least one day of rest, but for the past 6 months, that one day never came. If he wasn't on a mission, he was meditating or training.

Opening the scroll, he began his new mission, even if it was only in a mechanical motion…

_Uzumaki, Naruto_

_Chuunin_

_S-Class mission_

He stopped reading right there. He had never gotten any mission above A rank before, and the few A-Ranks he got were only A-Rank because of importance, not danger. Continuing he read further.

_Danger B-rank_

_Importance SS-rank_

_This bird is Hirio, the royal messenger bird. Just thought you'de like to know, brat._

_The Fire Lord has asked a new bodyguard replace the retired10th Flame Guard. The prestigious Flame Guard has chosen you as a suitable replacement for their 10__th__ member. This mission will be long-term, life long in fact, and will end when you are taken off the preffered duty rosters and resume after a three years probationary period. Otherwise, you are to attend all other missions recieved, as leave will be granted for them._

_You are to report to the Forbidden Sector of Kansai, the capital city. Seek out a man called Atakashi Sakumo_

SS-rank…that meant royalty is involved. From what he knew of the Flame Guard, he knew the 10th seat was the lowest. Each member was assigned a client of royal decent to protect at all costs. He also knew that the Fire Guard recruited for life. Naruto, being a good shinobi, would accept this mission…just like every other. The first seat protected the Fire Lord himself. The 10th seat, he believed, had been vacant for a long time. The last of the royal family to be guarded by the 10th seat died of illness_. _Ironic, the simple things that no one can do to avoid, no matter how powerfull.

Mentally plotting a route to his destination, he took off at a full sprint. Kansai was two days run, but one days sprint…

1 Day later

Dicarding his torn cloak, he trotted into the massive city. Kansai was almost a futuristic metropolis. Buildings climbed hundreds of meters into the sky. The Market and Entertainment districts attracted all walks of life from the entire continent. It was said that Kansai was, and perhaps still is, the center of the world. Culturally, and geographically. Dead center in Fire Country, which was dead center of all the shinobi nations.

He noticed the change in people's attitudes. Kansai was a civilian governmental city. No Kage had influence here, save for inside the palace walls or on direct orders. The people were clearing the bustling streets. Most had never seen a shinobi before. They were removed from war and the shinobi way of life. The civilians of Konoha were numbed to the ways of shinobi because they lived in the hidden village itself. These people were utterly terrified of the stories. The stories of men powerfull enough to topple kingdoms and crush armies.

Deciding to bypass the gawking and unneeded attention, Naruto took to the roofs. He arrived at the Forbidden Sector a full 15 minutes later. At a dead sprint, the city appeared even larger. Naruto could sprint from one end of Konoha to the other in under 3 minutes. The city was huge. And at its center, protected from outside view by sky scrapers, stood the forbidden sector. Surrounded by a sizeable park that encircled it, the palace walls were in view. The forbidden sector itself was probably half the size of Konoha, and housed the royalty and leadership of an entire nation, of an entire way of life. Walking up to the 100ft walls, he heard the guards yell out.

"State your business within the Forbidden Sector!"

Staring up at the blue sky and the guards it silhouetted, he shouted back.

"Uzumaki Naruto! I come to seek out Atakashi Sakumo, on the regard of the open 10th seat in the Fire Guard!"

The guards looked at each other, and then back at Naruto.

"Enter."

The doors slowly crept open.

Naruto's first view of the inside were surprising. The inside of the sector was bustling with activity. Some of the mass of drones were maintenance personelle for the Forbidden Sector. It's chefs and janitors, it's butlers and security guards. The rest were guests, employees of the Fire Lord, or Royalty themselves.

Leaning against the back seat of his massive oaken throne, the Lord of Fire Country had his hand resting on the armrest, supporting his cheek. A regal expression of boredom and contemplation.

"Tetsuo-dono," appeared a man in guard uniform, kneeling in a show of respect.

The Fire Lord, Tetsuo, had seemed to wake from his waking dream.

"Speak."

The guard, never looking up, continued

"Uzumaki Naruto, Chuunin of the Hidden Leaf, has arrived as per the Flame Guard's request. He is seeking an audience with the Flame of One."

Turning to his right, he softly commanded.

"Sakumo."

A man dressed in combat attire and a red bandana had emerged from the shadows of the throne, hands behind his back.

"Hai, Tetsuo-sama. He is here to begin his mission of guarding Akina-sama. "

"Ah, my daughter…yes, I suppose she would need her own Flame Guard now that she has come of age."

The Fire Lord listfully sat upright and eventually was on his feet. With perfect posture and poise, he decended the steps to the throne room and headed towards the royal reception area.

He thought about his daughter on the way.

'Akina…it's hard to believe that she is already 15 years old.'

The life of royalty wasn't easy, and the Fire Lord knew it better than most. His duties save him little time for family bonding. She was his first born child, and second in line to the throne. Right after her younger brother, Yusuke. Still, Tetsuo only saw his own children maybe once a week, and only for a few hours. Every Sunday…

Now, she would be getting her own Flame Guard. Having a Flame Guard was the mark of maturity. A morbid reminder that she is now important enough to prove a suitable target for foreign powers. But the Flame Guard were more than that. Sakumo, his own Flame Guard since he was fourteen, was almost like a brother to him. They were paired based on personal ability and style. Flame Guards grew more into companions and valued friends than just bodyguards. Sakumo himself had never left his side, save for the three year sabbatical that all Flame Guard traditionally took in order keep ties with their village. Tetsuo was very intrigued as to whom Sakumo had picked for his only daughter.

Arriving in the reception room, he entered.

Naruto arrived in the Ivory and Gold lined walls of the Royal Reception room. He was about to sit down, when a man appeared in the room from the shadows.

Naruto's reflexes took over and he hurled over one chair and kicked the next chair at the intruder, carefully letting a kunai hide in the chair's shadow. The man's eyes widened and quickly punched the chair into splinters while jumping up and avoiding the kunai.

Landing in a crouch he yelled.

"STOP!"

Naruto, finally looking over the man, had spied the red bandana that was the mark of the Fire Guard. The Fire Guard had no uniform, and no other shinobi were allowed inside the Forbidden Sector, so the bandana was more of a security measure.

"My apologies sempai!"

Naruto, now a little embarrassed, bowed his head in apology.

'He has good instincts. He is serious when the situation calls for it and personable when it does not. He is a perfect match for Akina.'

"I am Atakashi Sakumo, The Flame of One. Uzumaki, I will plead with you not to attack anyone inside the forbidden sector without confirming their identity. The Fire Lord will arrive shortly."

No sooner had Sakumo finished his sentence than the personal samurai guard had barged into the room, and announced the entrance of Tetsuo.

Viewing Sakumo and Naruto kneeling he announced.

"Sakumo, you know how many times I have told you that it is not neccaessary to kneel in my presence when we are alone or with the Guards. Now then…"

As Sakumo rose and took his place at the Fire Lord's right side, he examined the newest addition.

"Sakumo, summon Akina for me."

Dissapearing into the shadows, Sakumo complied.

"Now then Uzumaki, please rise."

"Thank you, Tetsuo-sama."

Analyzing Tetsuo, Naruto had to admire the man. Tall, regal, a light complexion. His attire consisted of one of the most ornately decorated armour Naruto had ever seen, lined in a royal orange.

"Uzumaki, I trust you know why you are here, but not as to whom your client exactly is, correct?"

At Naruto's nod, Tetsuo continued.

"You are merely the tenth seat, the Flame of Ten, but you will be givin the responsibility to protect whom I consider to be most important to me personally. My daughter, Akina."

Protecting the Fire Lord as the Flame of One, was a high honored position. The Flames were the right hand of the Fire Lord and their clients. The Flames are often found commanding small groups of ninja on personalized missions. During wartime however, they were generals under the Hokage and the Fire Lord themselves. Even the Sannin were below them. Even more importantly, the Flame Guards acted as military and diplomatic advisors to their clients. Protecting the daughter of the Fire Lord, the eldest and second in line to the throne, was indeed a great honor.

Fate chose that moment to reveal to Naruto his client for possibly life. The doors opened revealing Sakumo, leading a smaller framed youth from the shadows.

Akina, having just been recognized as an adult, had taken to the role whole-heartedly. She had been studying in the library with her instructor when she was summoned. It was rare to receive a summons from her father any other day than Sunday, but she had an inkling to what it was about. She had been recognized about a week ago, and her very own Flame Guard was slated to arrive either today or tomorrow.

Excusing herself from her Comparative Politics teacher, she had made a bee-line to the reception room. Her father never liked tardiness. Meeting Sakumo at the door to the reception room, she took a little time to prepare herself. Flames, especially to royalty, were friends and tools alike. They served, and their performances coupled together meant more prestige. It meant more freedom of mobility. It meant she could start to better the country. She straightened her Kimono, also decorated in a decadent orange. Her long blonde hair, done in a pony tail with a long bang streaking across her forehead and to the left. Green eyes adorned her cherubic, angular face. She was a real classic beauty, and even at the tender age of 15, she was very sought after among the nobility and the civilian populace in general. She entered the room following Sakumo's declaration of her arrival and immdeiatly bowed her head.

"Honorable Father." She greeted.

"Now now Akina." Tetsuo chided formally, in a naturally deep voice "You know that I prefer you call me Tousan." He finished with a gentle smile.

Akina blushed a little. Its not that the royal family was cold with eachother...usually. Its just that the Royal family was supposed to act with poise at all times in public areas. Public areas were just about everything except for their own rooms and family functions. You see, Akina's upbringing in the Royal family was special. Since the day she was born, she was always the brightest, happiest child the family had ever seen. When Akina's mother the queen had passed away when her little brother was born, Akina was hit the hardest. Her father had always regretted not being there for his daughter in her time of need, or even to grieve himself, but the duties of a king had called. He was obligated to follow…

As a result, Akina became the glue to hold their family together. She handled, from a very young age, a lot of ceremonial and castle delegate duties. She kept in touch with the cousins and aunts and uncles of the extended family. She was literally the Fire Lord's link to humanity…and her attitude had matched it. She was always very serious around non-family members. Professional. Though not slated for the throne, she threw herself into political studies and wordly matters. She was also a free spirit though, and behind closed doors, expressed her opinions freely.

"My apologies, tousan."

She finally recovered from her light bow and scanned the room. She saw, immediately, a blonder haired figure in dark clothes, on one knee, directly in front of her.

"This, my daughter, is the new Flame of Ten, Uzumaki Naruto. _Your,_ Flame of Ten. I am proud of you, Akina-chan." Spoke Tetsuo.

Naruto wasn't aware of the importance of the moment yet, but they had an old oddity in the Flame Guard. No shinobi in Konoha was ever, or has ever, been officially trained in dealing with royalty besides the assassination of. Killing was for shinobi, formalities were for politicians. It was because of this fact, that whenever introduced to royalty, they all said something different. You see, the tradition of the Flame Guard was to allow the Flame of One to pick out of Konoha's rosters and records. But the candidates always arrived and are immediately introduced to the Fire Lord without a briefing. Thus, the Lord always formally gave the new Flame to his/her client in this manner in the reception room. It was out of pure randomness and quick wits, that Naruto replied in his own unique way, and began to impress upon others his true worth.

"I am yours and yours alone to serve and command, Akina-sama, now and forever."

Akina's eye's widened. Such a bond was not usually formed until a while later. She assessed him again. She noticed his face and body more. The blonde hair, even now neatly combed into a docile short and soft spike, accentuated his startlingly light blue eyes. Three faint birthmarks adorned each cheek, giving him a rugged and almost regal face. His clothing neat, and suited for combat. She noticed the man in front of her couldn't have been more than 15. This saddened her for a lot of reasons, but like Akina always did, she looked for the silver lining. To be appointed to a family member at his age, dictates he is either a genius or a prodigy. Flames were always assigned young, correlate to the age of their clients. But it was always that they were four to five years older. This man looked to be the same age as her.

"Rise, Uzumaki Naruto." She spoke.

When Naruto complied, she continued.

"Come, let's go to the garden and better get to know each other."

As Akina lead Naruto through the doors, Tetsuo had thought to himself.

'I expect great things of you, Akina, and you too, Naruto'

"Don't worry Tetsuo, they will be perfect for eachother." Spoke Sakumo.

They both disappeared behind the doors opposite.

"So, now that the formalities are over, I'm Akina. Nice to meet you, Naruto-kun." She greeted with an outstretched hand.

Naruto was a little taken aback. He didn't know the formalities had begun yet. Furthermore, she had said his name so intimately after just being introduced. He had heard rumors on his missions and travels that the Flame Guard were almost always unusually and shockingly close to their royal counterparts. Hands moving to the back of his head and for Akina's own, he smiled bashfully.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet you, Akina-chan." He replied in kind.

"Soo…lets get to know eachother better, what are your dreams? How did you grow up? What makes you Naruto."

He had a flashback of his team's first meeting. How Kakashi had asked a very similar question. Naruto, from the first time he saw Akina enter through the door, he knew that she was going to be intelligent and gracefull. He didn't count on her being so sweet and kind natured though. He was relieved.

"Well, lets see" He began as they both sat tandem on an ornate outdoor bench "My dreams…I don't know, I thought I wanted something like to be Hokage, but I think…I want more than just that. I want to change the world. Through actions, through thoughts and friends…maybe through a family of my own one day." He thought with dazed eyes.

It was Akina's turn to be taken aback. She was the princess, she didn't know an awful lot about shinobi. The little she did know were of their history and general abilities. Her father had always chided her on not knowing enough about them. She had known Sakumo her entire life. She saw him almost as an uncle. But, she had never really associated Sakumo as being a shinobi. He was almost like family. She had assumed though, that all the other shinobi were as blood thirsty assasins and pragmatic amoralists that history told they were capable of being. To hear that this shinobi wanted to find…a family? That was a little too human for what she thought a shinobi was supposed to be.

He continued anyway…

"My childhood…well…um…are you sure you want to know everything? Is it..an order?"

Akina was unsure of how to answer. On the one hand, she wanted…needed to know. On the other, she didn't want Naruto to _not_ want to tell her.

"Why don't you just tell me about your friends and your background then?"

Naruto smiled and thanked her for the privacy. He knew that if she ordered it, she would hear every word of it. Even about the Kyuubi.

"Well, I graduated with nine others from the academy. We are all pretty close…I was part of Cell 7, lead by Hatake Kakashi." There was a name Akina knew! The legendary Copy-Cat ninja, son of the even more famous White Fang. Naruto must be pretty powerfull. "My teammates were Haruno Sakura an….and former Konoha ninja Uchiha Sasuke." She had the instinct not to pry.

"We were classified as a heavy assault team, but for the last six months I have been assigned to the preffered duty roster on solo missions. My Hokage thought it would be a good experience, hehe." He finished.

"Oh, so what kinds of missions do you specialize in now?" She asked innocently. Usually, Flames have a specialty before being assigned. More often then not, they specialize in escort or bodyguard missions.

He looked straight ahead a little, refusing to meet Akina's eyes.

"Well…I do the usual retrieval or escort mission, but I usually specialize in…assassination and subterfuge."

A Flame's skills are said to be able to compliment the skills of their counterparts. Sakumo's specialization, Akina had learned, was stealth and espionage. Because of this, her father knows just about all there is to know about foreign matters, as well as domestic. She went a little pale about her own Flame's skill. And how she would wield it…

"So Akina-chan, what about you?"

Recovering from her serious moment of contemplation, she began to answer.

"Well, I have a pretty ordinary life as far as royalty goes. I believe in the people, and their ability to show mercy, to live humanly. I believe that…war…is something that should always be avoided. I have always been an advocate for unilateral weapons and shinobi training bans. I believe that if we are to live in peace, that ninja are the last things we need."

Her words struck a cord within Naruto. He had come to the same conclusion himself a couple of months ago. The wars, the bloodshed, all of it was a circle. It was a circle that kept getting worse and worse. A downward spiral. He never thought about changing the world in a way that was peacefull. Sure, he wanted to live a peacefull life someday, but he knew that wars were as natural to man as the need to eat or drink. As long as there has been man, there has been war. He hoped that he wasn't to be just some tool though…

"I grew up in the usual way…my mother passed away when I was two, giving birth to my little brother, Yusuke. He's a little cold, but don't worry, that's just how he is. My Mother, I'm told, was a great pacifist and influence in the country. My father...well…hes my father. I consider my self a person of the people, so I usually find time to interact in the city proper, incognito of course." She let out a smiling wink, letting Naruto know that it was probably without the knowledge of her father.

"So anyway, it was really nice getting to know you, and I'll definitely see you for dinner. Sakumo should be with you in a couple of moments for your briefing. Oh, and here is your Insignia to mark you as the Flame of Ten." She reached into the sleeve of her kimono, near her shoulder and above her heart. As she slid the fabric of the silk kimono, she exposed an ample portion of her neck and collar. Naruto grew a shade of pink but could not turn away. She pulled out a red fabric with the symbol for "Ten" and the royal seal under it. Sliding the fabric of her kimono back into place, she handed it to Naruto.

He took the token of allegiance and slid it under the mouth portion of his scarf, so that the seal was visible but the rest was tucked into the scarf. He inhaled and faintly smelled a mixture of wild berries and the sweet ocean breeze. The blush spread to Akina, who was feeling surprisingly accepted at the intimate location Naruto had chosen to place her insignia and sign of his allegiance.

Turning and smiling, Akina left still sproting that blush.

'He is not a normal Shinobi, that's for sure.'

Three years later, leaving Suna with Kakashi, Sakura, and the rest of his team, Naruto shook Hiroi, the royal messenger bird off his shoulder. Ascending the the clouds, the bird emitted a vibrant red light and disappeared into a red mist. Non-chalantly bringing his hand to the inside of his scarf, Naruto pulled out a fabric and inhaled. Wild berries and the sweet ocean breeze.

'Akina-sama…I will change the world for you. Just wait and see. Peace is almost here…'


	6. Chapter 6 The Birth of a God

1 Year After Naruto's appointment into the Flame Guard

Akina and Naruto were in the Royal library, receiving a lecture from Akina's philosophy tutor.

"So Akina, I have asked your Flame Guard here today for class in order to give you perspective. Today's lesson is short and the rest of the day will be leisure time in order to reflect upon said lesson."

A treat for Akina. Now at 16, she had been given even more duties. She was in charge of city planning for the agricultural sectors and was given the task of deputy chief of public peace. She valued her leisure time. She had also changed physically in the last year. She began blooming into a woman. Her beauty only seemed to grow with her influence. Her work with the homeless and charities had given her an even higher status in the royal family. She was so liked amongst the citizens, she was known as 'the princess of the people'.

"Akina, tell me, what is death?"

Shockingly morbid to Akina, she none-the-less responded mechanically and almost by instinct.

"Death is the opposite of life. It is when one ceases to exist."

Her instructor scrutinized her for a while.

"No. But I forgive you Akina. It is a hard concept to grasp for people like us, for people with means and power. But, what if I were to ask you Flame of Ten?" She asked as she turned to stare at Naruto.

He had changed in the last year as well. He had matured a little more. He had gorwn to fill the gap of his youth. Now standing much taller than Akina herself, as opposed to the half inch he had been taller than her when he first arrived, Naruto sported black pants with white wraps and black shinobi sandals. His pants also had a half-cowl starting at his waist and ending just below the knees. He wore an open Gi with the symbol for the flame of ten on the back. It was a birthday present for Naruto from Akina a month ago. He had not taken it off save to shower or sleep since. He still wore his scarf and his insignia that Akina had first given him. His hair, a little longer now. His whisker marks, faint wisps of what they were. He had lost a lot of adolescent fat, making his face more angular. His body, rippled with sinewy muscles, small but cut a strong. It was very evident under his open kimono, for all to see. He finished it off with black and orange lined arm guards, a present from Akina's father, the Fire Lord, Tetsuo-sama.

He scanned the room with his eyes and rested on Akina's form. Akina returned the look with curiosity.

"Akina, would you venture that your Flame knows what death is?"

Akina knew Naruto, she would guess, better than anyone. She knew everything there was to know about him, except his past. She had really grown fond of him throughout the years, and they have shared some pretty interesting and intimate moments. In honest truth, Naruto was probably her favorite person in the world. They got along so well and never grew bored of eachother, they truly enjoyed eachother's company. But Akina knew, from the day she first sat in to watch one of Naruto's training sessions with Sakumo, that he could also be a completely different person.

"Death…" Naruto began, cutting into Akina's thoughts"…is the opposite of birth. It signifies the passing of the eternal into the next plan of existence, the next circle of life. Death is the immortal light that leaves the eyes of the mortal, only to repeate itself on another rung, another existence, another being. Death is the loss of a man, a woman, a friend, a soulmate…" he paused to catch a glance at Akina for a moment and quickly turned to stare straight for a few moments. "…a lover, a wife, a daughter and a son. Death the the snake's head and tail meet in the sign of infinity. But…"He closed his eyes, avoiding the worried stare of Akina. "…it is also the death of war—peace. The loss of pestilence, the abolishment of slavery, the legality of narcotics. It is the most powerfull driving force in the history of existence, the fire that fuels fate. And at the same time, it threatens to consume us all in its flames."

Akina, and even her tutor, could not help but stare at the Flame of Ten with wide, serious eyes. And in Akina's case, a little sad.

"Well then," The tutor spoke up, after "I will give you the day off, in order to contemplate what this young man just said."

Naruto stood, bowed his head, and melded into the shadows. His duty done.

Akina, standing and bowing her head slightly to her teacher, immediately went to her private quarters and began to change into street clothes.

"Come out Naruto, I know your there. Your always there."

Naruto's schedule was that whenever she was in class, he would be at training while Sakumo or a replacement flame had watched over her from surveillance systems. Whenever she left the classroom—even on a break—Naruto was present. Likewise, Naruto's quarters was next to Akina's, and his duties included a late watch. He would always at least watch quietly for an hour after she slept. Akina knew it as well. She always had Naruto there the minute she woke from a nightmare, alert and in battlegear responding to her firghtfull yelps. She always appreciated his presence.

She had grown use to the idea of bodyguards viewing her when she was naked to change or shower, but it was told to her whenever that situation came up, the survailance would instead view the entrances of the quarters. So it was more a code of honor. She never for one second doubts that a Flame would ever violate that honor, and she was right. But, she decided that if it was Naruto, she really didn't mind it.

It wasn't common in any stretch of a family member dating her Flame. In fact, it hasn't ever happened. Not that anyone hasn't thought of it. When she asked her father during a family gathering once, he replied smilingly. He had told her that while it hasn't ever happened and techinically wasn't against the rules, but it was looked down upon. He had also reminded her that she would even only get the option of choosing her husband should the country not need her hand elsewhere. Arranged marrages for political purposes were commonplace in her world, after-all.

She didn't exactly think of Naruto that way at all, it's just that she genuinely enjoyed his company. She had found a soul mate in Naruto, and she didn't think she would ever make a friend again that was as good as him. But, the thought didn't necessarily bother her either.

Schooling her thoughts, she noticed a figure in her mirror appear with its back facing her and to the door.

She had the top part of her Kimono on, and traditionally, there is no bra.

"You needed me, Akina-chan?" He said stoicly.

He had grown more stoic, but it suited him well. He wasn't so transparent anymore, but he wasn't inhumane either.

"Naruto, how long have we known eachother?"

She asked, knowing he knew the answer.

"1 year, 2months, 4 days, and 10 hours."

He had grown a lot more perceptive as well. She really did like that.

Turning to face him, still without a top and half a kimono draped over her hips, she started walking to him.

"And how many minutes in did I ask you about your past and how you didn't have to tell me it if you didn't want to? Don't answer it Naruto, its rhetorical."

Naruto had enough decency to spare a hand wave apology while rubbing the back of his head with the other hand. She knew him too well it seemed."

"You know me really well Naruto, and I know you really well too. But the Naruto I know, is only half of the Naruto you are. Do you want to tell me because you trust and believe in me? Or do you not want to tell me because you are afraid I will judge you or think any differently of you?"

She finished her tirade, and turned around to the mirror, taking off the bottom half and discarding it onto the floor. Clad in only her lacey undergarments, she hugged herself and awaited the answer.

Naruto, already uncomfortable because of Akina's state of dress, had tensed up for how he was going to answer this question. Its not that He didn't want her to know, its just that, yes, he was worried she might see him differently. He had sent a kage-bunshin that day to her class in order to check in on her. His clone had overheard the story of 'Jinchuriki' and the political impacts of these creations. He could recite every word on the answer to the question the tutor had asked and Akina responded with.

What is a Jinchuriki?

_The power of human sacrifice. What we have made them into. Weapons that house creatures of fate itself. Infants chosen at birth to act as jailers in hopes they harness their Bijuu's power. Weapons of mass destruction, forced into an existence of blood and gore and murder and strife. The lowest existence in Buddah's circle of life. The Universe weeps for them…_

He didn't want her to think of him that way. It nearly broke his mind when he found out she thought about Jinchurikki that way. It was horrifying from someone you have this kind of a bond with. He already had one brother try to kill him, will he have his soul-mate and companion do it now too, if only out of love to end his supposed suffering? He didn't know, the way he saw it, Jinchuriki usually end up that way. He would be the same had he not been lucky with some semblance of bonds to humanity. But he was all too aware of the fate he escaped. Still he was scarred by them. He didn't truly know if he was still suffering or not. He sometimes doubted his happiness, except when he was around Akina, that is.

"It's….I….."

He stammered out.

She stomped closer to the door and Naruto's back. She half wanted Naruto to turn around and face her, so she could try to read his eyes.

Realizing that this might not be the best way to have this talk, she spoke calmly.

"Change into those street clothes I got you, the ones the civilians our age wear, and meet in in the garden in 10."

He complied and melted into the shadows, hurriedly changing into his designated attire. Akina is more or less responsible for everything Naruto wears. She picked up on this little niche when she found out Naruto had no idea of anything besides shinobi gear. He always rather liked what she got him though.

Putting on a thin green sweater with nothing underneath and a tight dark blue pair of tight jeans with sneakers, she set out on her journey.

Meeting Naruto in the garden, she took the time to admire her _fashionista_ handy work. Slightly loose fitting blue jeans with black sneakers adorning his lower half. He wore a tight light blue short sleeve shirt, and a slightly bulky brown, almost black, leather jacket with modern trim and a buckle collar. A slew of leather bands and a watch covered his left hand. His left ear, pierced toward the top, an act of drunkenness brought on by Akina's 16th birthday because she drunkenly blabbed that he would look good with one.

She was very happy with the outcome.

"There, isn't it nice to be wearing a shirt now?" She teased, knowing that he knew she preferred the shirtless view better.

Walking to the gardens wall she let Naruto lead. Once they reached it Akina hugged Naruto's back, as he performed a series of handseals and both figures fluttered away in a flurry of leaves.

They appeared where they always do, walking amongst the crowds of the entertainment district.

Breaking the hug, Akina began to lead the way.

"Would you like to go to the new 5-star that opened up, or perhaps a more secluded place?"

Knowing the answer without having to hear it, she steared herself down the road and through a good portion of the crowd. Naruto loved to eat here, and for a reason she could never understand, loved it even more when she ate here with him.

They arrived at the old ramen stand, curtains closed for privacy, steam and aroma abundant in the air.

"Give me one extra large miso" He muttered

"Medium vegetable please" She said

The kindly old man who ran the place went back to make the orders to serve. It would take him a while, but it would be well worth it. This ramen stand had been in the hands of the same family since Kansai was Kansai. There plates were almost legendary.

"So, are you sure you want to know everything Akina?" He asked while lookingat her, trying to get a good read on her expressions. He could never do it with Akina, no matter how much training he received from Sakumo.

She responded with a hand on his shoulder.

"I will never think of you any differently, Naruto-kun."

Deciding to drop the largest bomb first, he began.

"During the reign of the Yellow Flash, the Yondaime Hokage, a great beast had attacked the village. The Kyuubi no Kitsune, the most feared of the tailed beasts. His roars caused earthquakes on the soil, shook the mountains and volcanoes from their self imposed slumbers, made every living thing recoil in fear or be bathed in destruction. The Yondaime, as powerfull as he was, could only stall the beast long enough for him to seal it away. The raw power of the beast, proven immortal. The Yondaime was not. After he sealed the beast, he died shortly after."

A stopped to take a sip of water that the old man had placed before he left. He knew Akina well enough to know she was about to ask what it had to do with him.

Relishing the feeling of the cool water hitting his lips, he cured his nervous cotton mouth and beat her to the question.

"The 'item' the Kyuubi was sealed into, Akina, was me. I am the Jinchuriki for the Kyuubi no Kitsune. That's why I was neglected when I was younger. Its why I don't have parents or real friends besides you."

He paused, closing his eyes

"I am Uzumaki Naruto, container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Son of no one, father to a dream. I have gained the rank of chuunin through blood and death, countless lives lost at these hands. And I will continue to serve, because it is my purpose. It is what I was born to do."

He finished, bowing his head so that it almost touched the counter. He was expecting her to slap him, to yell at him fro not telling her sooner, that she would choose another Flame to guard her and banish him from the city.

He was wrong.

A crushing hug enveloped his right side, almost knocking him off his stool. He looked to Akina, hands bunching the fabric of his jacket and shirt. Eyes, watering with moisture and regret. He felt something he had never felt before in his entire life. It was the feeling he was searching for, in his dreams, in his thoughts, in his aspirations. It was the feeling of acceptance and love.

"Naruto-kun. I will never see you any differently. I don't, will never, agree with what was done to you without your consent, but I will never leave you to the wolves like the fate of all Jinchuriki."

Akina was not only sad, she grew mad at Konoha, at all the shinobi and villages. She knew about Naruto's training now that she knew him. She knew about how all shinobi candidates were trained since the age of five at their academies. To teach toddlers, children, the most effective ways to kill and be undetected, to steal the innocence from the youth and have them not even realize it…

She hugged him even harder and strengthened her resolve. She had always wondered why Naruto was still assigned missions besides her own. It was because his missions assigned from the Hokage were assassinations that took him to foreign countries. It was why he was away for two days of every week. Her own missions came off as menial. Maybe an escort here and there, but she had always been nervous and scared of using Naruto for his own specialty.

It was then she realized Naruto's complete way of life. His soul will continue to cry throughout enternity, but his body and will will continue to fight as well. He wasn't a very normal shinobi at all. It was then that she understood his views on life, and on death.

She realized, that maybe, there are many roads that lead to the same place.

"That's why you still go out on missions, huh?" She asked, breaking the hug and continuing.

"Naruto, I promise, I will never leave you. We are bonded for life, and I would never want to see you suffer. Your pride though, I have taken a little of. I always preach to you about the fallacies of war and death, but you. You understand it better than I ever could."

Nothing more was said as their meals came out and they promprtly ate and paid.

Walking out of the stand, the skies had darkened and the rain was about to pour down. Out of season rain…

"Take me there, Naruto" She asked as she gripped his hand. Dissapearing in a flutter of leaves, they reappeared on top of the highest skyscraper in the city. The view was amazing. A perfect panoramic view of the city below them, that seemed to stretch out into the horizon and beyond the dip of the sun.

She walked over to the railings as the first drop of rain began to fall.

"Naruto, you and I will change the world someday. I know it, I can feel it in my bones. I chose the road of a leader, and you, the road of Death."

She searched her feelings that moment.

"I will never stop loving you, Naruto-kun."

Impusle had guided her words. They had never said anything about love. They never had to courage to talk about it.

The rain, pouring heavily down on the roof, had soaked the two teenagers in its purifying cool downpour. Akina's own sweater had now become see through. Naruto was more in a trance than anything else. She looked so beautiful there, so kind and gentle and honest. And at the same time, so intelligent, so powerfull. Naruto walked to her, taking off his jacket. He drapped it over her soaked sweatshirt.

"I will never stop loving you either, Akina-chan. Whatever you ask of me, I will always do."

He initiated the first hug. Their faces, pointed at eachother. Both sporting a healthy blush and longing eyes.

Akina had never felt this way before either. It's like she had found a part of herself when she met Naruto, and over the years, she grew to like him more and more and more.

Their heads, lips leading, closed the miniscule gaps. Inch by inch, millimeter by millimeter, they closed the full gap.

And when they met half-way, a tingling warmth engulfed them both. They knew acceptance. They knew true love at that moment. And the kiss deepend, and they were both in bliss.

Six months have passed since they knew love, since they truly knew each other.

The morning light had engulfed Akina's room. She shifted in her position, to better hug Naruto next to her. They had always slept together since the kiss. She was happy. And everyone seemed to catch on. No one knew about Naruto though. The Flames did not even know. They had planned to announce their relationship when the time was right, and that meant a considerably calmer political environment in the castle. There had been some uprisings recently. The denizens of Fire Country had taken to revolt because of food shortages. They claimed that the northern cities and provinces had enough to share. Such was not the case, but hate had to be placed somewhere.

Naruto's own training had become incredibly advanced. He had developed a new technique that held a lot of promise. It had begun when he first hit that plateu that all shinobi hit, before they reached their maximum strength that their bodies and minds allowed.

"_Sakumo-sensei. Why is it that I can't seem to improve the way I used to? Why can't I better myself in the leaps and bounds I used to cover?"_

_Sakumo explained to him the mastery of the arts. How one must look inwards in order to become truly powerful._

_It was then that Naruto had an idea, and idea that would give birth tto the ultimate technique. _

_He had always wondered why the kage-bunshin was developed. Looking through calculating eyes, he saw the intricacies and seals. Millions of them. The kage-bunshin truly was a separation of the soul from the body. And then he tought_

'_If I have to look inside myself…why can I not make an internal Kage-Bunshin?'_

_And so he set out on his task and a couple weeks later, Sakumo saw something startling. Naruto had succeeded. The ability gave him a godlike perception of the battlefield. With 20 internal copies, Naruto could beat even Sakumo. And he was still increasing that number. It was a trick on the universe really. He separated his soul numerous time, but put them all inside his body. Separate but one. His eyes, glowed an ethereal blue when he did._

_Naruto began to meditate even more. He began to throw himself into his studies._

Waking up himself, Naruto decided it would be a good day. Today was the day he would break his limit. He sslowly got up, and kissed his naked lover on the lips beside him. He doubted he would ever want to sleep anywhere else except with her. He bested his initial idea to fool around with her in the mornings, as they usually did, and instead melted into the walls to prepare for the day.

He had a lot more missions lately. He had even been deputized by his lover as chief of military police for the Fire Nation. At his age, he was a true prodigy, and had the respect to accompany it. Words of his victories and battles and skirmishes circulated throughout the shinobi nations as Shessomaru. Fitting, he decided, that he would be nick named after a word that essentially meant 'the end of the circle of life'.

Akina learned to accept death, as long as Naruto was the one that metted it out. She knew that targets he killed were deserving of it. She knew that Naruto's road took him to the same place hers did.

She woke up a little after Naruto left. She gazed at the crease on his side of the bed. She desperately wanted to share their relationship with the general populace, or at least tell her father. But she knew, if she was to succeed in life, she would have to wait for the right time.

Getting dressed in casual clothes which consisted of a light green Sunday dress, she set out on her way to the Royal Recreation area. Her father and brother would be there.

She was in the middle of an intense political debate with her father, when the incident that would change the world happened. The tradition went that when all of the family was gathered on Sundays, that the Flame Guard would all gather outside the training grounds adjacent for a spar. The family was use to the random explosions and and yells from the fervor of the spars, but they had never heard an explosion that loud.

They rushed to the windows, and saw a sight that no one could ever have predicted. The training ground was chaotic with blood and errant lifted dust. In the center was a 100meter crater, at least six feet deep at its center. And in its deepest point, they saw Naruto. Eyes, blazing with the rd glow of his new technique. They had never seen his eyes that bright before.

Sakumo and the other Fire Guard lay uncicious, injured on the perimeter of the crater. Naruto, his swords held horizontally to his side and breathing frantically, began to look up towards the sky.

"More…If I am to realize the will of my master."

He paused, and then shouted to the heavens in a roar

"Then I must put an end to the circle of hate. And my road to that end, is through the power of God himself!"

His eyes multiplied in brightness as the skie darkened and opened up in from of him.

At this point, The Family stood in awe. The Flame of Ten had defeated all the others, and add to injury, all of them at once. Akina, though, was frightened. Sheknew Naruto was powerful, but this level of power was thought unattainable since the passing of the Sage of Six Paths.

A beam of white, crackling energy decended from the opening in the heavens,a nd Naruto's eyes now held a red flame to them, enveloping all with its mesmerizing dance. Almost too bright to stare into.

When the lightning subsided after a five second lag, Naruto collapsed, bleeding from a shoulder wound that seemed to cut almost into his heart. His clothes burnt and charred. His skin, abraised and bruised in almost every place.

The Family was shocked, and only Tetsuo had any semblance of intelligent thought.

'It seems as though Akina's Flame is more worthy of the title Flame of One than I thought…Perhaps I should re-think Akina's own position to the throne. I am getting old, after-all, and I was no younger than Akina when I took the throne myself.'

Akina ran outside, slamming doors as she went.

She crossed the crater, muddied her shoes and dress to lean by Naruto's side.

"Wake up!" She said while hugging him.

"Wake up, Naruto-kun!" She repeated.

Bawling desperately and manicly, this was the first time she had ever seen him injured. She was worried she might lose him, lose herself.

"Please, Naruto…" she said between sobs "…I love you! Please don't leave me, koi!"

And the truth came out.

And it was the last thing they had needed.

'Akina…no…' Tetsuo thought, sadly.

Naruto awoke a full month later, Akina by his side.

Groaning awake, he jerked up in bed.

"Akina, how long have I been out?"

Akina, startled, was overjoyed with her lover's awakening. He woke up a full 2 months earlier than the medics had said he would.

"Naruto! You've been out for a month now!" he spoke as she hugged him with all she had."

"Akina, I'm so sorry for leaving you alone!" He felt so guilty, for leaving his soul mate alone in order to further his own ambitions. He felt lower than dirt.

She put a finger to his lips.

"its ok, koi, I understand." She said, breaking the hug, and sitting on his bed.

A long silence passed as Naruto hugged her back.

"What happened while I was away?"

Akina bit her lip. She would have to tell him now.

"Father…everyone knows about us."

His eyes widened, the implications of his actions now clear.

"Naruto, he gave me a choice."

She turned around to look at his eyes. She loved him more than life itself, and when he was around, it was the happiest time in Akina's life. Every single time.

"Father…he gave me a choice." She said, sadness permiating her speech.

"He said that if I was to be with you…to be with you like we want, that I could never be the Fire Lord. But…that if I was to end it, then I would acend to the throne. He told me, to pick wich life I wanted."

This was the worst possible news Naruto had ever heard. It stung him, more than anything had ever stung him before. Not even when his brother had tried to kill him for more power, did his heart break like it did now. He knew Akina, and he knew what was to come. He knew that they would do anything for eachother, even die. But, her dream…their dreams of a new world, a better world, was important to humanity itself.

Spilling some tears himself, he crushed her in a kiss of passion and lust and love.

Breaking the kiss, he spoke

"I will always love you, Akina, even if you will never love me again."

She knew what she had to do as well. And it was the last thing she would ever want to do.

6 months later, Uzumaki Naruto was roaming the halls of the castle. Sakumo, appearing next to him and kneeling.

"Sir, we have received a summons from Tetsuo-sama"

'A mission, huh?'

It had been six months since he was appointed the Flame of Zero, the new commander of the Fire Guard. It had also been six months since hes seen Akina, his lost beloved. She was being groomed for the throne, scheduled to take up the mantle in a years time. He grew cold, throwing himself at his King's missions.

Appearing in the middle of the throne room, he kneeled.

"Flame of Zero, you will be given a mission of upmost importance to Fire Country. You are the make sure Akina is safe during the wedding ceremony two days from now."

He knew about the arranged marriage. It was an attempt to sow peace with Cloud Country and their sour attitudes towards the Country of Fire. Naruto had not known of Akina's feelings towards it, if she even remembered him. His own power grew to new heights, and the legend of Shessomaru grew throughout the nations. The Flame of Zero, he who would bring peace through death.

He did it all with a broken heart, with a longing soul. He did it all of Akina. He would sacrifice his body for her, in any way she wanted. He had already sacrificed his soul.

"Of course my Lord" Dissapearing into the shadows when he was dismissed, he appeared inside of the gardens. A tear of a broken soul spilled from his always slightly glowing eyes. He longed to feel her touch, her kiss, even some words. He searched his feelings for what he wanted to do tonight, his duties over. He disappeared into the shadows to reappear ontop of the highest skyscraper, where him and Akina had shared their first kiss. It was only by chance that she was there as well.

"Naruto."

She spoke. And he had heard her voice for the first time in what seemed like an eternity.

He turned around, but did not speak.

She closed her eyes and spoke.

"I'm sorry, for what happened. I never wanted this to pass, I only wanted you by my side." The rain, out of season again, began to form.

She turned her head away.

"I knew you would come here. That you would come here once you heard."

"I live to serve you and only you, Akina-sama, now and forever." He spoke, softly. Softer than he had spoken to anyone in the last six months.

"And what is it…" she turned and closed the gap "…that you want to do? If you say the word, Naruto, I'll call off this wedding. I'll throw the throne away. I'll do it all for you, if you would only ask it."

Crying but masked by the rain, Naruto spoke is hushed tones.

"All I've ever wanted, stands in front of me, Akina-chan. But, I will never ask it of you. Never."

It broke his heart, but he knew that the greater good was more important than himself. Akina knew it too. Still, she was human.

She kissed him, and asked him to have her one last time, so that she could remember what happiness was. That was the second to last time the two would ever speak, would ever see eachother again.

Another nine months had passed. Naruto was up for his traditional sabbatical back into Konoha in another half-year. Akina, he had heard, had married and was about to bear a child. The thought of her with her new husband and child, happy, with Naruto forgotten in her mind, was enough to make him cold. Colder than any of the Flame Guard. He was reserved, guarded. And he still wore the open Gi that Akina had gotten him years ago. Only this Gi was embroidered with the insignia for the Flame of Zero.

He was actually away on a mission for the Fire Lord when he heard the news of a great event in Kansai. The birth of the heir to the throne. Akina's child. Even where he was, in the secluded southern provinces quelling another rebellion, he had a trepidation that he should be there for the Family. That fate needed him to bear witness to something. Leaving his second in command in charge, he took off towards the center of the world, to the forbidden city, to Akina.

She had given birth to a blonde haired, green eyed boy. She had also passed away on the medical table. Her husband, sad and furious. The son she had given him, looked nothing like him. He also looked to be born with a weak body. The new born was actually slowly dieing. Nothing medical science could do to save the child slowly dieing in his crib.

It was at that moment that Naruto arrived. The forbidden sector had been cleared out, only medical and family allowed on the premises, along with all ten of the Flame Guard. Creeping up in the middle of the well lit medical room, wisps of red, opaque chakra tendrils wrapped his form and revealed him when they receeded. He glanced at Akina. Glanced, and broke down. He kneeled in front of her, weeping for the loss of his beloved, the loss of his soul. No sound escaped his open mouth, but the tears would never stop.

"You must be the father to the child of this wretched whore" Kinose, Akina's arranged husband had said. It was obvious that he did not care, or cared very little, of Akina's fate.

"This is tantamount to treason! Flame of Zero or not, I will have you executed for your treachery, and Akina's body burned, along with your bastard son!"

Naruto's eyes gained their highest brightness. That night, all ten of the flame guard were slaughtered, Kinose and his guard lay bleeding their life blood on the floor. The few doctors present, eviscerated for their failure to save Akina. It was amongst the bodies of the massacared that Naruto appeared in the throne room. In front of Tetsuo.

"Naruto…what you have done this night is unforgivable." He shook with rage. His family, even his son and daughter, now lay dead. His Guard, decimated by their own leader. He knew he would have no chance against this creature that was once human. This creature, who is driven by loss and death…and ideals.

"Do what you have to Naruto. Make this sacrifice worth its significance."

He killed the Fire Lord, the most powerfull leader in the world. Dawning the Royal Armour of the king himself, he cradled his now sleeping son…sleeping for ever…and place him next to Akina. Covered in blood and gore, he made a promise that day. A promise to transcend reality and make the world a better place.

"Akina…your world will come to pass, just as you always wanted. A World without war and shinobi, without hate and filled with love. I will create your world, even if I have to burn down all of creation to do so. For that is my path to your dreams. That, is my way of life. My road."

He burnt to bodies, crying freely all the while.

His new armour, a perfect fit.

He created special seals a long while ago. It was how he was able to create his spy networks. The special Kage-Bunshin that would last as long as he did or until they died on their own. The kage-bunshin than took the sould from a body and made a perfect replica, totally subserviante to him. His soul clones, he called them.

He would rule behind the throne, as the Fire Lord himself. But now, he would escape to the end of the worlds. He needed more power, he needed a greater understanding of life and death. He would return, six months later, to lead a team to Suna from Konoha. Six months later, the circle of life would begin to crumble and break. Six months later, Naruto's master stroke would be set in motion.


	7. Chapter 7 A Simple End

Deidara stumbled into the entrance of the cave that sat upon the tallest tower in Rain Country. Bleeding, blurred vision, and a surprise accompanied him.

"Leader!" He cried, extending his only good hand towards the person he knew stood watch at this cave every wakeing second.

"Leader!" He cried again as the shadowy figure at the end of the cave opened its eyes.

The Dark mist parted as the dark god awoke from his meditative slumber.

"Fool…" he whispered. His voice, unbecoming of one who had been unconscious for so long. Deep and commanding, the voice of an apprentice masquerading as a master.

"…You lead him straight to us!" He leaped into action sticking to the roof of the cave just as a shadowy figure appeared where he once was.

Wrapped in black tattered robes, even his head was obscured by a simple cloth shroud that stuck to the top of his head. He stood there, hands at his sides and not even staring at his escaped target. The figure gave off emotion itself, the dread of humanity seemingly oozing from its pores. Not killing intent, but something much much worse. Unexplainable and undettered, the figure's dread blurred the air subtly, as if he shaped creation itself.

Pein frowned. It had been a long time since someone had snuck up on him.

He started walking towards the downed Deidara. Almost gliding along the surface, his robes concealed even the largest motions of the human body and covered the figures legs. He stopped in front the of scared, battered and bleeding man.

Deidara, for his part, played the frantic fool well. Scurrying backwards from his position on the ground, he tried to escape the touch of this wraith like figure. The apparition's sleeve covered hands had stopped just short of Deiedara's eyes. He could see fingers. Pale fingers. He closed his eyes. He would never open them again.

Pein had been surprised at the calm dispatch of one of the stronger members of Akatsuki. Even more so as to the gruesome end Deidara met. Bleeding out against the wall of the cave, his eye-sockets now empty.

The figure turned to him now.

Pein observed the way the man moved.

He stood with an air of…absoluteness. As if he really could read the future. No, its as if he will make the future. His movements the markthe reflection of death itself.

He did, however, notice the faint glow behind the thick cloth that covered his face. But by then, it was too late. The demi-god of war fell from his position in the ceiling, his body picking up its share of gravitational speed. Pain's life-les puppet lay defeated, an empty blue orbed stare replacing the ringed pupils. The figure melted into the walls once more, searching for the chakra signature it knew to search out.

"K..Konan…" Pain whispered out. An old red haired man, bones and skin and blood. A worthless husk of a man whose body could not keep up with his mind. A man whose plans of world peace through war would die, as would his reason for bringing peace.

Konan , Pain's childhood comrade, his sister, his only precious person. She was the reason he wanted a new world. A world where Konan could live in peace. The embers of the fire that ended his dream, still burning lowly. Konan's burning body, muscle and skin charred to a black crust, took what was left of Pain's soul.

"Why?" He rasped out, asking the thing that stood before his impaled form, why it took his dream from him.

There was a silence broken by the wraith.

"Because the world does not need to be saved by you. Because you could never shoulder the true burden. Because _she_ would have hated what you would have become…"

Wide eyes, his last moments were upon him.

'Perhaps now, I can find true peace…Yahiko, Konan…together again…'

The old dark god closed his ringed eyes, blood now pouring freely from the multiple black rods that had impaled him to his wheelchair. A man with an ego would have hated to have been killed with their own weapon…but Pain didn't care, it seemed…

"The answer cannot come from God, the answer must come from man. To truly understand what it means to be a God, one must understand what drives man. What man's true nature is."

He walked away from his target, thinking to himself.

'To be a God…that is my fate alone…'

"To be God…" He spoke now, his head pointed up to the sky as he walked, as if talking to the gods looking down on him.

"…you need only kill all that makes you human and open your eyes to the world of man."

Titling his head forward, adopting a a more serious posture.

"And then you kill what is left."

He burst into a sizzling, steaming, almost burning red ribbons, floating along the air and dissipating out of view under the sun of mid-day.

The rain would fall in Rain Country just one last time.

To weep.

To allow the universe, time and space itself, to weep.

'Soon….'

In a camp one day's travel from the Bridge of Heaven and Earth, Naruto's team settled in for the night. All except for Naruto himself. He always stared into the darkness those glowing orbs of his, spinning a broadsword, twirling it into the gnarled branch. Grounding the tip millimeter by millimeter into the oaken tree that was his makeshift perch.

He contemplated what was to come. He always did, at night. Shaking off a small red moth from his hand, it ventured 30 meters into the shrubbery when it vanished.

'Everything is proceeding smoothly. Sasuke is the second to last variable remaining.'

Add to Naruto's massive mental faculties, the thought of the fight ahead extended his perusing. He would need Sasuke to play his part very soon. And to do it, some manipulation must be involved.

'Manipulation is always involved' he thought.

Jumping down from his makeshift perch, he locked away his weapon into the tatoo's on his wrists.

"In one day's time, we will be at the Bridge of Heaven and Earth. You should be cautious. I have received reports from my own spy network that this could be a double-agent. I will impersonate Sasori of the Red Sands. Our primary objective is to track Orochimaru, whom I know will be there, straight to Sasuke. Do not engage at ALL until I say so. We are to give the impression that I am alone."

An interesting tactic. Insane, but interesting.

"Are you trying to tell us that you plan to take on Orochimaru himself, and win? Hell, to have the gall to say you wouldn't be exhausted to follow him and engage again…Naruto, we know your strong, but this is Orochimaru!" Sakura almost yelled. She really disagreed with the mission plan. Konoha shinobi were supposed to stick together. Once again, as if reading Sakura's thoughts.

"Sakura, sometimes the best team work, is being able to not get in the way. Everyone has to play their part. Untill mission start, get some sleep.

Begrudgingly, they all did as told, sour over the fact that Naruto didn't need to sleep at all.

Orochimaru's first sign of a botched ambush was when he saw 'Sasori'. He had already heard that the Akatsuki cronie had been crushed by Shessomaru, the Flame of Zero. So yes, it was a tip –off to see the dead walking.

His first mistake though, was assuming the impersonator would be predicatable. He wasn't. Kabuto lay in a pool a blood, several swords stabbed through his torso and pinned him to the wooden rails of the half-mile bridge. Orochimaru's own entrance was interrupted as the stranger wasted no time and began to initiate a fight.

Orochimaru stared at his opponent, still in his disguise. He leveled his own massive killing intent towards the stranger. He was surprised when the figure showed no sign of being trapped or even affected by it.

"You think your miniscule killing intent Is enough to affect a God? Witness your own technique with real power."

Puffing away in a billowy white smoke, Naruto was revealed. Orochimaru immediately recognized two things. One, is that the brat in front of him was the Kyuubi Vessel. Perhaps he would now make a good match for Sasuke.

The next thing he noticed though, was Naruto's armor. The armor of the King, the Lord of Fire country. He had only seen the man once before, but the armor was so unique that it stayed in his memory.

He had no more time to think, however, when he felt the truly monstrous killing intent leveled at him. The world blurred and unfocused as the very air seemed to shake. Leaping back out of his stupor, Orochimaru witnessed the young vessel keep up with his backward leap speed.

'Genjutsu!' Orochimaru thought.

Naruto chased after him, kunai inches away, when he noticed Ororchimaru switch himself with a nearby mud clone.

'I need to end this quickly. Orochimaru must not fall here. Sasuke needs to witness it.'

He took his technique to the next level.

Gai and his team were currently stationed further North in the forest, where Naruto said there was an 86 percent chance of Orochimaru fleeing towards. Kakashi and Sakura, however, were stationed further South, and much closer to the action

Sakura was amazed at the ruthless efficiency Naruto had demonstrated. He was keeping up with a legendary ninja and looking like he did it with less effort. The almost mechanical way that Naruto had taken down Kabuto. Sakura still sensed his pulse, even from where she was.

"Kakashi-sensei, what do you think of the way he's fighting?"

When she got no response, she turned to face him

And was shocked

Kakashi had his eyes wide, both of them. One of them a strange form of Sharingan Sakura had never seen. A thin layer of sweat had covered his forhead.

In Kakashi's defense, he had a right to be visibly shocked. What he was seeing through his Sharingan was frighteningly powerful. It wasn't just the physical movements, its what was under the hood. Underneath the underneath. He had never witnessed a battle of this caliber before, between two genius ninja. The two that were fighting faster than Sakura could see were clones. And the two participants knew it. That's why there was more than one battlefield.

Mud clone fighting Kage-bunshin. Underground, in the air, zipping from branch to branch unseen by those not looking. The invisible war raged, explosions happening around them, Naruto's clones winning every sortie. He could not find the originals though. The thousands and thousands of seals on the clones skin, visible to Kakashi with his new Mangekyou Sharingan shocked him even more. The caliber of this fight was on an insane level of concentration and planning.

Orochimaru's own clones seemed shocked, and they kept on retreating to the far reaches of the North. Where Naruto said he would go.

Waking up from his stupor and covering his left eye, he gave Sakura the signal to pursue towards the Northern objective.

Their invisible war, narrowed to just the originals, was coming to a close in a small valley clearing between Gai's team, and where he thought, knew, where Orochimaru's outpost was. Facing his panting opponent whom sported new cuts and blood flowing from his right arm, he concentrated all of his will onto him. There would be no more stalling on Orochimaru's behalf. There would be no escape, lest Naruto would will it so.

"It seems the rumors of your weakness is true, Snake Sannin of Konoha. Orochimaru." He spoke in a calm, but serious tone. Orochimaru took the time between pants to notice Naruto was not even winded.

Frowning and getting his breathing down, he collected himself and faced the opponent with a wicked smile.

"You have grown, Naruto-kun. What you did to Kabuto was exceptional. I wonder, would you want more power?" He slid his elongated tongue out for more effect.

'How cliché…' Naruto thought '…that the snake would be tempting me when I have already tasted that fruit.'

"The snake cannot talk to those who do not listen to its forked tongue, Orochimaru." Still collected.

Orochimaru's wicked smirk turned into a vile looking frown, the wrinkles on his chin outlined grotesquely with his pale angular face.

"Then your fate has been sealed!" He spat as his mouth opened, hundreds of snakes pouring out.

'If you will not join me, then I'll just use you for another purpose! Sasuke needs to activate his final form before I take his body, after-all…'

With a swipe of Naruto's hand, thousands of kunai and shuriken poured out. The rain of metal, spewing forth like a wave of cold death, plunged into the snakes, creating a gory battle field that would be sure to attract its fair share of crows.

'Run all you want Orochimaru. No one can save you from my will.'

He took care to allocate his awareness on tracking the real Orochimaru. Stretching his senses, he raised his left hand to signal the teams in.

They landed all in a crouch. No one had time to stand before he barked out some orders.

"Gai, Ten-ten, Lee, Neji, Pursue the target with me and secure the battlezone. Make escape impossible. Kakashi, Sakura, secure the secondary objective.

Kakashi and Sakura were now distrustful of this Naruto. He managed to scare off a Sannin and know things he shouldn't possibly know. Do things he shouldn't be able to do…

"You'll need help from us to take down Orochimaru, Naruto. Besides, we still have to find Sasuke. There isn't a guarantee Orochimaru would go straight to him.

'That's why I let him free Kabuto. ' Naruto thought.

"Do not question my decisions, only care that I make them so." Naruto _said_.

Kakashi and Sakura frowned at this, but complied none the less.

After letting Kabuto heal, he immediately ordered his lieutenant to fetch Sasuke. His puppet would have to help him kill the Kyuubi brat. Once he delivered the final blow with his help, he would gain the final sharingan and be eligible for immediate body transfer. His decades of planning finally coming to a head, he foolishly skipped over a fact he otherwise wouldn't have. Surely, the Kyuubi brat did not intentionally avoid Kabuto's vitals, did he?

As Kabuto walked through the door with Sasuke in tow, Orochimaru sensed en extremely large build up of chakra directly above them. More specifically, directly above his own little mock throne.

Eyes widenening and cursing soon following, he leapt towards his two most valuable tools and witnessed the raw power of what was coming.

Jumping 100 meters into the air, he was far above the tree line. Naruto was at the crescendo of his leap, and glancing at a spot of dirt on the gravely terrain, he reached each hand to its opposite's wrist. Pulling apart and holding a bright figure with both hands, and a millisecond later, a vast puff of smoke fills 50 of the 100 meters his current height held.

The jagged, massive hunk of steel with a metal tang of a hilt, plummeted towards it target at breakneck speed.

Like a falling pillar of a monstrous structure, the weight and speed of the weapon pierced and bored through the ground as if it was an inch of sandstone and not the impenetrable twenty feet of granite slate it was.

Orochimaru knew exactly what he would do if he was Naruto at the moment, and he was sure any person of Naruto's caliber would do the same.

He took his two henchmen and disappeared by melting into the shadows. He had used the escape seal on his base. He could only use it once.

But…

A weapon of that size. Orochimaru noticed it. That was no ordinary piece of steel. That was a chakra manifestation. One that size…it appears as though

'It appears as though Naruto might be far beyond Sasuke's limit…I should flee this battle, lest I find him beyond my own.'

Choosing a tactical retreate, he was not surprised to catch a glimpse of the white hot flames that entered through the opening the whole had made.

Re-appearing though, was a surprise indeed.

Surrounding Orochimaru, Sasuke, and Kabuto, were what appeared to be Sakura, Kakashi, and the Kyuubi-brat himself.

'How…did he know I would be here…'

As if reading Orochimaru's thoughts, Naruto replied…

"Because tactically, I would choose this location as well…"

Orochimaru's eyes grew fierce. He grew angry, angrier than he had been in a very long time. Almost as angry as when his old sensei had sealed his arms away. This insolent youth had insulted him. HIM, the greatest of all the Sannin, the murderer of the 3rd Hokage, one of the strongest men in the world.

"You were useful to me a minute ago, brat, but now I just want to taste your blood for the fun of it!"

He leaped into action, summoning his Kusanagi from it's sheathe in his stomache, portraying a smiling snake-like version of insanity along the way.

Sasuke did not know what was going on. He was following Orochimaru's lieutenant, Kabuto, when all of a sudden all hell broke loose and he saw some faces he didn't want to see again.

It unnerved him, Sakura and Kakashi's determined stares. And that thing fighting his teacher. He had never seen such power before. Keeping an eye on the two old team-mates, he activated his Sharingan and observed the new comer. He chose the wrong time. The flare of chakra almost blinded him had he not shielded his eyes.

Naruto had chosen to release some of the power he was holding back.

'Impossible!' Sasuke thought.

And the uknown shinobi before him spoke for the first time to Sasuke's ears.

"Let me put an end to your madness, Orochimaru. I will show you mercy, so that you may live."

Mid charge, Orochimaru's eye's widened.

'The Flame of Zero? No! It can't be!'

Gai's eye's widened as he spoke to Neji beside him.

"Neji, whats going on?" He spoke quickly, trying to discern the scene before him.

Thousands and thousands of red fluid ribbons floated in the air. Through everything. Through trees and dirt and air and even Gai himself. They kept on wiggling, squirming, as if they were all caught in some unfelt breeze. An ocean of red, all with one thing in common. They all began at Naruto. Where they ended…no one could say for sure. Not even Neji. It seemed as though the ribbons were there all along, that they stretched on for infinity from the sky and the Earth.

"Its…they are chakra manifestations." He spoke in a whisper.

Observing Naruto himself, Gai could see definite changes.

Naruto's eyes began to glow a solid white, a blindingly solid white. His cloak, strewn about the heavens from the swell of hot air caused by the massive release of chakra. His armor now in full view. It was the most ornate, spectacular craftsmanship Gai had ever seen.

Orochimaru himself seemed too stunned to react himself. Naruto chose that moment to comment on himself.

"Behold the end of your wretched existence, Orochimaru."

Said snake sannin instantly grew frightened and went into a series of handseals while stopping his charge. It was very unlike Orochimaru to be the one to strike first.

Slamming his hands on the ground, a seal array began to show up and a giant puff of smoke had appeared.

Naruto did not flinch. Did not react, did not move, did not even appear to be breathing.

As the smoke cleared, the 100foot Pit Viper hissed and snarled. Its purple scales absorbing the light from the mid day sun and its open mouth showing two twenty foot fangs, dripping with a green fuming venom that frothed as it hit the grass under it.

It seemed to survery the landscape, taking note of Orochimaru's position on his head. The old beast followed his would be summoner's gaze and took notice of the opponent that Orochimaru had apparently needed help with. Say what you will of Orochimaru's relationship with the snakes, but do not question his power.

Now what Manda saw…he made very clear to his dark partner.

Without moving his mouth he hissed out.

"You fool. What kind of enemies have you made on the other planes? What kind of stupidity do you possess to make an enemy of this creature before us!"

It spat venom at Naruto, its coarse, molasses like viscosity making the ball of venom travel slightly slower than normal. Manda used this speed alteration to slither at incredible speeds along side it, curving and slithering towards Naruto.

Naruto almost literally exploded into handseals. The sound of massive amounts of wind breaking very apparent. The slight boom of the sound barrier breaking was also present.

Yet the chain of seals seemed to have no end while the venom ball and manda's own fangs were upon him. He leapt straight up hundreds of feet into the air, Manda's fangs piercing through the dirt, the unseen portions dissolving and crumbling in on itself due to the vats of venom injected into it. Thrusting his fangs loose from the dirt, he turned upwards.

Knowing Naruto would have no time to adjust his movements, Manda sprang and chased Naruto in mid air, the both deadlocked at the same upward speed of motion.

Naruto chose the cresecendo of his leap to finally finish his handseal sequence.

'Order of the World: The binding chains of fate!' Naruto thought as he seemed to slam his palms downward onto an invisible platform, which glowed and gave way to a massive seal array. It turned like clockwork, locking in place in the matter of milliseconds. Manda's eyes grew wide, and so did Sasuke's, Kakashi's, and Neji's.

"Something's happening!" Neji yelled. He saw Naruto's jump coming to a close and saw that the ribbons that surrounded them were tightening and expanding in a cone under Naruto's jump. Tighter and wider they stretched until even Manda's form was obscured.

Orochimaru's hackles rose on the back of his neck as he leapt off of Manda's head, sacrificing the great old beast to his own demise.

The ground shook as the area under Naruto's palms began to fill with a shining white light. The air blurred as it engulfed Manda's form in quick succession, and proceeded to slam unto the ground beneath.

The Earth roared in pain as dust literally engulfed the plain. The battlefield, chaotic with the sounds of steel hitting steel, puncturing flesh and ripping through sinew. The dust cloud, absolute and blinding, only those with eye techniques could pierce its gaze.

Neji! Whats going on?" Ten-ten shouted to her teammate. She couldn't even see two feet in front of her face.

"Naruto's attack kicked up a thin layer of dust for about 2 miles each way! They are engaging each other. It should settle soon!"

The sounds of battle rung throughout the darkness for several more minutes until the dust started to thin. It eventually stretched and blew away with the wind so that she could see almost all of the clearing.

Then the dust settled.

Manda's form lay on the ground encircling the blast area. It seemed he had tried to coil his body away from the cone, unfortunately, Manda's titanic body could only manage to barely clear the perimeter, resulting in the vertically disintegrated form before the Konoha shinobi. Nerves still firing and muscles twitching, vital organs of massive size poured out. The thousands year old beast was dead with a single attack. Beautiful and gruesome though it was.

Sasuke knew all too well what he saw in his Sharingan. True power. Power capable of killing his brother. More then enough. So he did the only thing he knew how to do properly. He assessed both sides, found his to be wanting, and switched.

Kabuto, pierced and pinned to a wall, blood gushing from his mouth and nose, still had that stupid fucking smirk.

"You havn't realized that it takes more than a pawn to be strong, Sasuke."

Sasuke retracted his chakra manifestation and kept his stoic expression as Kabuto died, still sporting the same smirk Sasuke hated him for. His actions were not unknown to the Konoha Shinobi. Everyone had taken notice of Kabuto's death. They were more pre-occupied with the titanic battle that took place before them though. Kunai and shuriken by the hundreds littered the brown topsoil. The middle of the clearing where the original attack went off, only a deep dark crater that was more than 100 meters in diameter. No one wanted to measure how deep, only take notice that one could not see the bottom.

Most shocking was the state of Orochimaru. His left arm below the shoulder, gone. One leg below the ankle, gone. Random sharp, thin kunai stuck out from various lethal spots around his body, buried up to the hilt. His eyes wide with shock, with panic and fear. His face, left eye gone, a bloody gushing hole where it once was; his pale and purple face paint mixing with the blood from a cut on his forehead. Panting, he croaked.

"What….are……you….!" He rasped between sharp intakes of breath. He exploded into handsigns.

Naruto sprung forward just as the tongue of the snake Orochimaru had summoned started to creep out of his mouth. A kunai behedded the snake, even as Orochimaru tried his best to dodge, his regenerative technique nullified if he could not escape or buy himself some time.

"Not this time." Naruto said. Rearing a summoned katana back he flashed into a series of jabs and slashes. Orochimaru somehow managed to avoid the slashes, but ended up having his remaining arm pierced through the palm in an attempt to stop a stab to the heart. He smiled wickedly and he dissolved into mud.

And yet, Naruto was not worried. Instead, his form exploded into a mass of moving, scattering red ribbons.

Up a distance on the only few remaining trees in the clearing had Orochimaru appeared. Up a distance on the only few remaining trees in the clearing had Orochimaru been beheaded. The head, falling toawards the floor twenty meters below, his eyes stuck in a look of horror and rage, a serene face of anger, the embodiment of venom and disgust. Even now, with his unnerving battle paint all but gone and his humanly tan complexion replacing it, the image of a snake remained.

'It's not over yet…' Naruto thought.

The mouth of the severed head opened and a gigantic white snake had rushed out. Planning to take Naruto by surprise by lulling him into a false victory, Orochimaru zipped and zig-zaged towards his original target. Sasuke.

Sasuke's own eyes widened, the scale of the fight proving his choice to switch sides, a most decidedly wise one.

He unsheathed his own version of the Kusanagi. But the sword was batted away as Orochimaru's new form towered over the now on his back Sasuke. He crawled backwards faster than he ever had. It was then that his hands felt something. A handle…perhaps? Under the loose dirt kicked up by the blast minutes earlier. Yes, he could definitely feel the leather wrap of the hilt…but…where had it come from?

'Use it, Sasuke…' he heard inside his head. A whisper, a ghost like instinct kicked in. He knew whatever he held was light and long. As Orochimaru's scaley mouth enlarged, fangs beared at their full foot length. As he swooped down to finish his jutsu by consuming the host, Sasuke lifted the handle and pointed towards Orochimaru's face with it.

Such a simple end to such a complicated mad man. In seeking immortality, he became a beast without fear. In seeking destruction, he became vile beyond reprieve. And in exploiting vanity and pride, the six foot spear pierced his open mouth, clearing the mutated skull and poking out of the still twitching beasts head. A simple end indeed, but death was often very simple…indeed…

Naruto chose that moment to decrease his power output. The blinding white light from his eyes seemed to vanish in an instant as red ribbons of various sizes and thickness blew upwards as if caught in a breeze while anchored to his feet. The ribbons faded themselves as his eyes went from glowing to luminescent to simply shining unnoticeably. His face still covered by his signature scarf, he didn't need to look up to catch his errant cloak, fluttering in the winds that caused the massive battle.

He slowly started walking to Sasuke while pulling on the cloak.

Sasuke was a little scared. He had switched sides again, killed Kabuto, and hopefully at least earned amnesty for the help. The spear disappeared in a puff of smoke.

'A chakra manifestation?' He thought, as the towering corpse of Orochimaru plummeted to the side, and Sasuke found himself unable to move.

Unable to twitch or scream or run or fight. The figure in front of him, not even winded. Orochimaru was one of the most powerfull ninja in the world and this…thing…tore him apart without batting an eye, like an insect.

Naruto stopped in front of Sasuke, his cloak and scarf concealing whatever distinguishing features Sasuke could have made out. The rest of the Konoha shinobi, each recovering from their own shellshock, surrounded him. They flanked Naruto on all sides, looking down on Sasuke.

It was Sakura who first broke the silence.

She broke it by lunging at Sasuke's almost prone form. Hugging him and crying. He had barely heard anything of what she said. The Konoha shinobi smiling, trying their best to make the trip back peaceful, to hopefully guage if Sasuke was worthy of being accepted back into the ranks.

But that thing in front of him, did not smile, did not move, did not even blink. It just seemed to stare, and not at Sasuke in particular. It was unnerving. Unsettling and cold. It just seemed as it was staring right through Sasuke, through him and the clearing and beyond even that.

Then it spoke.

"We leave back to Konoha immediately. Kakashi, take Orochimaru's and Kabuto's head. Ten-ten, Lee, make sure the objective is safe. Gai, you will take point with me."

He turned to leave, the long cloak dragging up dust in its wake. Stopping in stride.

"Welcome back Sasuke…"

Did he know this thing? Did he know who it was under the outlandish garb? Sasuke couldn't know, could he? He had never known someone that powerful.

Nonetheless, he allowed his old comrades to lift him to his feet. Following absently, they took to the trees after Kakashi's task was done.

As they soared through the trees, Sasuke finally found he couldn't take it anymore. He turned to Sakura.

"Who is he?"

"Who?" She replied. As clueless as Sasuke had remembered her being.

He turned, pointing his head towards the object of his curiosity.

She followed his gaze towards Naruto's flowing cloak, his scarf tracing his movements across the dense upper foliage of the oak forest.

"Oh….yah, he's changed a lot hasn't he?" She asked, the blush from her face gone and a serious attitude replaced it.

"Who is he?"

Stunned and now clairvoyant to Sasuke's confusion, the lightbulb in her head moved to her mouth.

"Its…Naruto…"

Stunned beyond words, he almost fumbled on the last branch, swerving to avoid the brambles closer to the trunk, he adjusted his composure.

His mind racing, battery acid pumping through his veins at the realization. Trying to figure it all out, how _Naruto_ of all people would end up this god of battle, and not even his deductive mind could piece the massive puzzle Naruto was.

"What happened to him?" He wasn't even jealous of the power it…Naruto… held anymore. If it was Naruto, the power he possessed was already Sasuke's. He would take Kabuto's last words of advice to him. He would get his own pawn and become a king.

"When you left…" She paused to turn away and back again, as if hiding some emotion that was as apparent as a billboard over her head. Her forehead suited her…

'So transparent…' Sasuke thought.

"…He was assigned to the preffered duty roster…I wasn't able to keep in touch with him then. All I know is that he's apparently part of the Flame Guard, which one I have no idea. Something happened to him, he's not himself at all. I don't know who it is leading us, but its nowhere near the Naruto me and Kakashi remembered. We actually hoped you would fill us in a little on what you know of the Flame Guard."

He thought for a few moments…

"The Flame Guard…The government's most prized and dedicated Shinobi. They have been around for as long as the elemental countries existed."

That part she knew.

The next she didn't.

"But how can't you know which Flame he is? Those are public records…" Sasuke half stated, half pondered.

Their current course would be taking them through Kansai.

For Konoha, successful missions were usually celebrated on the way back… Prehaps Sakura might see the great city once in her life. She would also make a note to research more about Naruto.

And what better place than Kansai to get to the bottom of Naruto's past and the history of the Flame Guard?


	8. Chapter 8 Nights in Kansai

"Long ago, there were gods that walked the Earth. They were hundreds. They saw that each year, fewer and fewer god's were being born, ultimately coming to a stop.

There understandings and knowledge soon became expanded, their knowingness extending towards infinity. Suddenly, the gods grew bored in their power and absolute knowledge, and they began to create. The gods had created the birds, fish, all the animals we see today.

They walked with them, admiring the work of their brethren. It became a game, a competition. But in their infinite knowledge and foresight, even they could not predict one errant god's creation.

We still don't know which god had created us, but many have theorized.

It was said though, that a more malevolent god had shaped us from the Earth. He wanted a creature which would not only flourish, but dominate against all others. This god had created man, and added what no other god had before. This god, had offered up a piece of his soul, a spark of the divine, to man.

A creature modeled after a god.

He was banished for his misdeeds, declared forbidden. But the other god's showed mercy on his creations. Man, was still uncorrupt. So they allowed their presence, if only for the fact that they were pitifully weak.

And so man, allowed to bask in his own machinations and limited knowledge, soon grew powerful. They domesticated animals, built machines that defied the laws of the god's. They made eating easy, surviving – joyful, killing—easier…

And man soon grew too powerful.

Buildings stretching to the skies, weapons capable of killing hundreds of millions, power to destroy all that the gods have created. Powerful had the dark god's creations become.

The god's offered that if he rid the world of man, he would no longer be exiled. The god's were unwilling to leave such creations alone, for one day, they believed man capable of killing a god."

Him, the creator of man, saw his will perverted and unrecognizeable, so he set upon the destruction of his own creations."

"The dark god spoke to a man, Kansai Hitoruko, the leader of a great nation of man at the time. He convinced Hitoroku that the evils of man had threatened their existance. So he twisted and shaped his tales, made man worse than they really were. Hitoroku set upon the destruction of man through war. That was his legacy, as a conqueror and a tyrant. But that is not how he is remembered. He had won, man's numbers had dwindled to hundreds and the survivors were all located here. In present day Kansai."

The gravely trail's errant loose dirt being kicked up as Nartuo walked, further hazing the already foggy moonless night. He picked up his story.

"So it was that the god's smiled upon Kansai Hitoroku, the beaming light of heaven landing on present day Kansai before giving Hitoroku a gift. For vanquishing the evils of man, this one mortal would become immortal…"

The long silence had permeated the air as the Konoha team moved towards the massive stone gates of Kansai. Naruto had said he didn't want to stop by Kansai, because of their current predicament with Sasuke. But, Kakashi and Sakura vouched they would not leave his side. So Naruto had no choice. Curiosity, he always said, was next to godlyness.

Sakura, being the clever girl she was, asked about the brief history. She was impressed. She had always known Kansai was old, but she had no idea it was literally at the start of the common era. The cradle of humanity.

They approached front guards, all dressed with armor and heavily armed. Some with minor shinobi training. They were no match for shinobi themselves, but enough of them would kill even a Jounin. And they did have superior numbers. As the group came into view, Naruto took point and spoke to the guards first.

"We seek passage to the forbidden city." He spoke as his cloak tightened around his form, hiding the armor of the king.

The guard snorted, replying

"I'm sorry you came from wherever you did, but the king is currently a recluse."

Another guard joined in, while elbowing the initial guard. Presumably the superior.

"He hasn't allowed anyone inside the city for a while now. Not maintenance staff, not even diplomats. There have been a few riots because of it. Kansai isn't as safe as it was six or seven months ago. Not since Shessomaru left his position. The king is, however, scheduled to make a public address tomorrow. People are a little excited tonight, so please steer clear of the bars, especially you shinobi."

Naruto nodded, and signaled the rest to follow.

Kakashi, however, chose to laze behind a little in order to get some information.

He nodded towards the first guard, apparently the one with the looser tongue.

"I've only heard a little bit about Shessomaru. Only that he's a Flame Guard member and that hes very effective."

The guard smirked, smiled, and finally cracked a laugh.

Reigning in what was now a boisterous laugh that even stopped Kakashi's group, he truned to his superior.

"Hey sir, this guy wants to know who Shessomaru is!"

Said guard walked up to the disgruntled grunt, slapping his combat helmet with almost all of his strength and smiling along the way.

"If you don't know who Shesshomaru is, then you will. He's a celebrity here in Kansai, spreading throughout the Southern Countries and Provinces as well. The common street child knows his name. But no one knows what he looks like…"

An interruption came when his radio clicked on.

"….Hitman 1 this is Hitman 2, do you copy…"

He responded

"Hitman 2 this is Hitman 1, go ahead…"

"We've got reports of men on foot with torches wandering towards your sector. Command wants you to intercept. Same R.O.E. as usual, authorization of lethal force if targets are armed or spotting for the enemy."

"Roger that Hitman 2, we are en route."

The click or the radio turned off as the squad of guard got to their feet.

"You heard it, let's move the fuck out gentlemen." The leader said.

Almost one bye one they got to their feet and disappeared into the dark foggy shrubbery, the leader the last one to leave. He turned before he left.

"You shinobi might want to remove your protectors. Ever since Shessomaru, people tend to turn the other way to shinobi, know what I mean."

He flipped on his night vision from inside the faceless helmet and disappeared, kevlar, sidearm, and sword all gone into the mist.

The military guard of Kansai was world renowned. They were the only uniformed military unit to issue a pistol. Extremely lethal and accurate ancient technology. Only the richest had access to them. They say the projectiles they shoot could travel faster than a Chuunin. They were not terribly effective against shinobi of higher level, but, larger, more lethal types existed. Most shinobi hated the things, regarded them as tools for the weak.

Kakashi's stare lingered on a little more, then he turned and began to walk with the group. They were almost through the massive marble gates, when Sasuke spoke up.

"So since this is a celebratory thing and all, what should we do first?"

Sakura chimed in.

"Well, we should probably switch to civilian clothes first. Its only nine in the evening, we could catch a store before it closes. After that, lodging. At ten, we should be free to relax."

They all nodded and Naruto spoke.

"Very well, once you have acquired your change of dress, meet up at the closest inn to the East in the market district."

They nodded and were all stuck in place. They spoke for a bit and decided to go in teams of three when Gai had noticed Naruto leaving.

Kakashi spoke to Gai.

"Why don't you have Ten-Ten and Lee stick close to Naruto for now. I'll take you and Neji with me and Sakura."

He nodded and passed on the orders.

"You have grown in Youth Naruto! You must tell me your secret training regimen!"

Seeing the perfect opportunity to shut Lee up and not draw further attention to himself at the crowded clothing store, he replied to that which he normally would not have.

"The secret to power, Lee-san, is to look inwards."

Lee stared, and one could almost see the cogs turning in his head.

It wasn't until someone had bumped into his shoulder in the crowded store that he woke.

"Yosh!" He said to himself, and located Naruto and Ten-Ten talking in the next aisle.

"…Come on Naruto. You have to buy _something_ here. Your clothes are flamboyant for a _shinobi_, the civilians here must think your crazy. You know your going tostand out like a sore thumb, don't you?."

"Come on Naruto, you know your going to stick out like a sore thumb, don't you?" Akina asked the oblivious Naruto.

"Aha…" He laughed, touching the back of his head in a very Naurto like way. "…I guess, but I have no idea what to buy…"

"Sure Ten-Ten, I already have some civilian clothes, so why don't you go ahead and change first."

Lee was a little shocked. Ten-ten didn't notice because she had her back turned, but Naruto looked down and seemed a little warmer than he has since Lee first saw the new Naruto.

Not knowing what to make of the situation, he waited for the both to change.

Lee, with blue jeans and a green turtleneck shirt, walked alongside Naruto and Te-Ten. Naruto, a real change from his mission attire. Gone was the serious, cold attitude, replaced by a semi-emotionless person. Neither happy nor sad, Naruto walked down the coble stone roads towards the inn with indifference.

Ten-ten had opted for a short pleated black skirt and a tight black shirt with red trim. She had let her hair down for the occasion. It wasn't as long as one would have guessed, just coming short of her shoulders.

She spoke up just then.

"So Naruto, how do you know so much about ancient culture?" She asked.

It wasn't as if the subject were ever taught at the academy. She was up to date on modern politics, just like any other shinobi, but knowledge going so far back was rare. It was seen as useless now adays.

"Yosh Naruto-kun, you seem to know a lot about most things."

He smiled a small little smile, hidden beneath the collar of his brown blackish jacket.

"As a Flame Guard, we are all trained in civilian and advanced subject knowledge. The Flame of Eight, for example, has researched pistol and ancient weaponry enough to build them himself."

His turn of subject would be accepted, and Naruto dodged a rather ironic bullet.

"Hmmm…I don't really care much for the things…"

His smile widened.

"Well, they were the weapons of choice for the ancients you know? The pistols the Military Police in Kansai carry are only the smallest, slowest form of projectile they can fire."

"My father once told me how to use one…" she said breaking the short silence. "…they're terribly precise in the right hands, and fly faster than most ninja can run. Short range though, point blank, they can take out just about anyone without skin as hard as steel."

He smiled, Naruto should have guessed that a weapons specialist may already know how deadly the small simple things were.

"The ancient's arts may have been lost, but we gain understanding every day. The first factories are starting to be built in the Southern Provinces. Proliferation of technology spreads every day, the world grows restless and curious, a powder keg if there ever was one. Worrying the world further, some ancient technology was recently uncovered North of Kumo. Guns, firing a large enough projectile to decimate city blocks. Death from hundreds of miles away, at the click of a button…"

He stopped himself. He tended to rant when it came to his most daunting objective. By this time in six months. The world would have all the weapons they needed.

They started to approach a crowd now, an outside bar on the streets. The crowd buzzed with talk of the king and his anticipated speech. Some of the larger civilians were beginning to start a fight. The three Konoha Shinobi broke right, following Naruto to their destination. The building above the bar…the Eastern Inn in the Market district. Looking back, Naruto signaled that they were not alone.

"Ever the vigilant one, huh dobe?" Sasuke asked from his position on the stool. He half sipped his drink with a sideways eye on Naruto.

Naurto observed the rest of his team, all in their civilian clothes. Gai and Kakashi both chose varying style of jeans and black jackets, while Sakura went with a white pair of dark blue tight pants and a bright pink frilly shirt. Sasuke had opted to wear his regular attire, sans Orochimaru's trademark belt and his own sword.

Naruto frowned.

"I told you not to appear as a shinobi."

Sasuke frowned.

"Does it make a difference? We are in Kansai. What kind of an idiot ninja would attack a Konoha shinobi team in Kansai?" He asked/stated with a smirk.

His eyes narrowed in distaste as he observed the bartender, who had overheard Sasuke's statements and started whispering to the other patrons at the end of the bar. The older, drunker patrons.

He glanced at Gai and Kakashi and they understood.

"Just a few rounds guys. We need to be up early tomorrow if we want to be here when the Daimyou speaks."

They all nodded and pulled up a few more bar stools.

There at a grimy bar in Kansai sat some of the most talented, powerful shinobi. Possibly in the world. One especially. And yet, they looked relaxed, all of them losing themselves in the crowd and ambient music of the night. Before they had known it, a couple locals already began to hit on Sasuke and Naruto. All shot down by an unenthused Naruto and a territorial Sakura, who constantly tried…and failed…to get Sasuke to show an interest in her.

Vanity was most definitely Naruto's least favorite sin.

It wasn't until a woman with tanned skin and green eyes walked up to Sasuke that the evening took a turn. She walked right up to the middle of the Konoha shinobi, right up behind Sasuke. Her long green dress and white top blouse accenting her dark thick hair.

"They say you're a shinobi from Konoha. They say that you know Shessomaru."

It seems like the game of telephone that started with the bartender had picked up some juicy fiction before it returned.

Sasuke, in all his arrogance.

"Tsch, I'm a Konoha shinobi, and I can take on that Shessomaru guy with one hand behind my back."

Liquor had loosened his tongue and given him courage. A cruel combination.

She frowned as he turned around to face her.

"You? A little wimp like you could never kill the likes of Shesomaru. The End."

"Oh, and what do you know about him?"

Her frown deepend and she was caught in a snarl.

"He whose name literally means 'The End of the Circle of Life'. Shessomaru. The Flame of Zero. A murderer. He killed my entire family in the Southern Provinces. They call him a butcher. They call him a God of Mercy and War. Not one man who has seen his eyes have lived, the souls of hundreds trapped inside of them."

Naruto pondered. They really had no idea how close to the truth that rumor was about his eyes. Alas, this was going to get ugly, and soon.

"What do you mean he killed your family? Isn't he a Flame Guard? Come to think of it, aren't there only ten of them, not eleven?" He sneaked a glance at Naruto, who seemed to stare straight ahead into the motion of the crowd.

She completely ignored his question.

" You shinobi make me sick. Why don't you just die!" She ended it with a slap that seemed to echo and turn a few heads. Naruto was beginning to get irked over Sasuke's new found tongue.

When the green eyed woman walked away Naruto began his tale.

"Shessomaru is the Flame of Zero, a newly created position in the Flame Guard. He is said to be the most powerful of the Flame Guard, of all of Fire Country."

That immediately got the Konoha shinobi's attention. More and more heads started to turn towards their own direction. Whispers spread and people began to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"The king had tasked him with quelling the Southern Province's rebellions. He completed his mission in under half a year, the most successful mission of its kind. However…he created a reputation for himself. Indeed, no one outside the Flame Guard has seen his face and lived. He butchered everyone in his way. Men, women, children. No one is safe from his ever present touch upon Kansai or the whole of Fire Country."

He paused.

"He is seen as a monster here, like all shinobi because of him. The civilian population absoloutely disdains his presence. Blood follows in his wake, they say."

He didn't care much for his titles or legends that were pinned to him. A necessary thing, though.

"So if this Shesshomaru is just a heartless monster, why doesn't the king just order him down? Make him stop being a Flame Guard?" Sakura asked.

"Because he's good at what he does." Was the simple answer.

"Because Shessomaru, whether anyone wants to believe it or not, is a necessary evil in this perverted world."

They bowed their heads a little, very much aware of the fact that shinobi were also necessary evils. Children, trained on the most efficient ways to kill, at the tender ages of six and seven.

"Do you know him?" Asked Sasuke, the only one who didn't bow his head. He didn't believe shinobi to be a necessity, but as a tool for job. He represented the majority of shinobi. He didn't know how right he was.

"Yes."

"Is he a good man, or as evil as they make him out to be?" Asked Neji, wearing robes of a noble. What an odd way to blend in…

Naruto observed the middle of the table, staring at his own glass of untouched sake.

"Good or bad, never mattered. He will always be what people have made him. Just like Jinchuriiki, he will always be a weapon of the people."

Before Sakura could ask what a Jinchuriki was.

A microphone intereuprted their own little thoughts. Across the street, the crowds grew restless and the older ones started speaking.

"Aren't we tired?!" The old man on his soap box asked. He was wrinkled, terribly old. His voice like dust just waiting for the grave. His red and black robes, a stark contrast to his blue blinded eyes and white/yellow hair.

"Are we not tired of living in fear? Of our brothers and sisters dieing, our children having their futures robbed? Are we not tired of Ninja and Shessomaru?!"

The crowd began to stir as more and more people started to listen, sometimes yelling supportive phrases.

"Rise up against our once fair king, his heart blackened by the death of his daughter! He wants to speak up tomorrow? I say we speak to him, not the other way around!"

A roar of cheers filled the crowd as the more sheep were added to the flock.

"Show what you want the king to do!"

Naruto knew what would happen next, and he already set a plan in motion. He noticed Sasuke tense and ready himself for what was to come. Smart boy…

The old whither bony fingers of the man pointed, straight at Sasuke.

"Shinobi!"

And the crowd turned one by one facing the direction the boney finger pointed.

"The world tumbles in chaos more and more every day! All because of those filthy creatures known as shinobi! They rob us of family, of a means to live! They rob us of our dignity simply by existing!"

It was at that moment that Naruto noticed the seven glints of steel headed for them. In slow motion, he saw six Kumo shinobi.

'…Survivors…' he thought.

He let loose fourteen of his own kunai instead as his fellow shinobi kicked their chairs back and disappeared into the crowd. He instead, calmly stood up. Even as seven of his kunai deflected the oncoming hostile kunai, the extra seven went straight to where their targets were. He heard five sounds of flesh being punctured as the crowd began to panic. Afraid the Konoha shinobi were as blood thirsty as they thought.

Sasuke found his own target in the center of the crowd, people panicking to find enough room to give the two battling shinobi.

He spied the insignia for Cloud. On his black face mask. The mark of Cloud ANBU.

"Why are you helping him! He'll kill you too!" The man of six feet shouted, hysteria in his voice. Switching on his Sharingan, Sasuke noticed rapid pupil movement. A clear mark of insanity if there ever was one.

He reached into the sleeve of his left hand and retrieved a full brace of kunai.

The already hysterical Kumo ninja grew even more agitated, began to rub his right wrist in an almost shy way while moving a little hap hazardly. Shinobi didn't usually move like this, and Sasuke's assumption of insanity was confirmed.

'Only one thing to do with a rabid dog. Put him down.' He thought

Naruto and Kakashi stared down their own insane enemy. Crawling around on the floor, turning over the heavy wooden tables and stools. It reeked of alcohol from the spilled drinks which made the normally dry cobblestone floor slick in spots. The insane Kumo ninja, started muttering from his spot under the table. First incoherently, then breaking into his own unique series of laughs and giggles. Stopping and starting, leaving the two Konoha shinobi to ponder what it was they were really fighting. A man, or his insanity.

The Kumo ninja's laughs grew bolder, louder. Echoes had attracted the attention of the large crowd outside the bar on the streets, watching Sasuke and another Kumo shinobi fighting to the death.

"Its YOU!" Followed by another round of hysterical laughter.

He stopped, putting a piece of broken wood in his mouth through his full cloth mask, and bit down. Kakashi could smell the blood that trickled from his lip and mixed in with the cloth mask.

"ITS YOU!" He shouted again, spitting out a chunk of wood and splinters while discarding the shredded stick with his free hand.

Kakashi examined Naruto with a side glance, and noticed his repeating hand signals. Jerky and seasoned, they were clear to someone with ANBU training.

'His target is me. Tactical retreate to support Sasuke.'

Strange, Kakashi thought. He knew Naruto to be able to decimate an opponent like this. He had killed Sasori of the Red Sands and Orochimaru like they were insects. Perhaps he didn't want to destroy the city? Or maybe he was just low on chakra. He _had_ been running and fighting non-stop. Kakashi himself was still tired just from his short sortie with Deidara and his use of the Magekyou Sharingan.

Regardless, Kakashi obeyed. A tactical retreate for backup was the probably the only tactical move Kakashi had agreed with.

So Naruto and Kakashi leapt through the tables and furniture, past their opponent. Naruto dodged a few clumsy strikes on the way, the Kumo nin, as mad he was, laughing while taking chase.

Without his own Kusanagi, Sasuke was at a disadvantage. The inferior steel of his kunai needed exponentially more chakra to conduct electricity. It was because of this and his Sharingan that Sasuke had managed to put the Kumo shinobi in their current state.

A stalemate.

Both had bruises and cuts. The Sharingan was almost useless, unable to perceive the double jointed madness that was its opponent. Everytime Sasuke would engage in close combat, he was beaten back by two kunai in each hand, one held by teeth through a black cloth mask, and two more attached to his sandals. The device used on his feet were able to change direction of the kunai with a spin at a moment's wish.

His opponent was powerful indeed. Shyly rubbing his wrist again, he began to giggle.

Sasuke decided to end this quickly. Had had exerted too much chakra with his Sharingan and speed augmentation techniques already.

Seeing an opening in his opponent's guard, he burst into speeds not demonstrated before. The Kumo shinobi attempted to block the kunai coming to pierce his heart. He had made it just in time, deflecting the kunai with ease. There was little force behind the stab, but for a reason. Using his momentum and new direction from the deflected blow, Sasuke dropped the kunai from his deflected hand and used it for a handstand. He leveled a vicious heel right into the Kumo shinobi's jaw, shattering his teeth and cutting his gums because of the kunai they gripped.

He stumbled back for just a fraction of a second as Sasuke picked up his kunai, not missing a beat, and reared back for a stab to the top of the skull. The Kumo shinobi recovered faster than Sasuke would have liked and blocked the killing blow with the kunai in his teeth, now held by a bloody mess of painful shattered ivory. Rearing back, his feat shot out to either side of Sasuke and both of the kunai attached spun inwards. Sasuke could not hope to block, he had already commited his footing to attacking.

He had one chance that was too risky to try before. He slowly saw the attack coming when he channeled the last bit of chakra he had left to his opponents kunai. They were almost a full inch inside his ribs, milliseconds away from his heart on the left and through a lung on his right when the Kumo shinobi finally recoiled in electrical shock, the discharge burning his toes to an ashen gray, useless, and sending his nervous system into a fit of confusion and agony.

Sasuke bit through the pain in his sides and approached his downed opponent. He took his discarded kunai and plunged it straight into the abdomen of his downed foe. Grabbing the neck, he was about to end it when his senses screamed at him to turn around. Having just enough time to glance, he spared a second. His opponent would not stop spasming for a few more seconds and the kunai would see to his eventual death anyway.

He saw something he wasn't expecting. Exhausted and chakra depleted with his Sharingan off, he was three feet away from the business end of a very large katana held by a civilian in a green long skirt. The same one who had talked to him. He saw it all, every detail, in slow motion. The sword edged ever closer.

It turns out that when the sharingan is turned on, it does emit a low red light.

Such a simple end to such a random fight.

"Shesshomaru, Die!" She whispered.

She must have mistaken him for this 'Shesshomaru', whose only known feature was a rumor about an eye technique.

Once Kakashi ran into the crowd his mental radar was thrown off. So many scents and noises, he could not effectively track Naruto or his opponent. He circled the crowd, roughly bumping and weaving his way through the homeless, the drunks, the bystanders. He stopped between an old man and a young woman of about fifteen.

"Father?" She asked while looking at Kakashi and tugging on her father's sleeve.

"Who is that?" She asked.

The old man turned his head and his eyes grew wide as he scooped up his daughter with one hand and took off towards the crowds exit.

The vacancy of the two enabled Kakashi to see the fight between Sasuke and his own opponent. He thought he saw something along the periphery of his vision. Two fast moving things heading in towards Sasuke as he was about to deliver a killing blow.

Kakashi had noticed the civilian woman too late as well.

'Sasuke! No!'

The woman's Katana was so very close to Sasuke's stomache, yet Kakashi could not move. He knew he wouldn't be that fast. He could only hope that Sasuke would be able to defend himself in his exhausted state.

Then out of the opposite end of the crowded circle, Naruto leaped towards the middle, a now upright, laughing, and fast opponent in tow.

Naruto sprinted to just within the reach of the civilian woman who was literally milliseconds away from stabbing a shocked Sasuke.

'The right to be God…' Naruto pondered as he always did before a kill. '…That right is mine.'

He unsheathed two swords in the blink of an eye. To the civilians around him, it appeared as if the swords had always been there. He stopped just in front of the civilian woman and his own opponent going in for the kill. At just the right timing, the luckiest second, the most ludicrous moment, he grabbed both swords in a reverse grip and plunged in opposite directions with his hands spread apart.

His eyes glowed a luminescent shine. Not enough for a civilian to notice the chakra use if they were too far.

The crowd grew silent as they watched Naruto murder the two in the center of the circle. A long white steel sword poking out the back of the civilian and the Kumo shinobi through their stomaches. The crowd had to watch the macabre scene, for they didn't have enough time to blink.

But it was not over yet.

Using his left foot to pivot, he twisted. His momentum on his arms, tugging and shredding through the swords they gripped. The woman and insane shinobi both had their own reactions as they saw the world move without their consent.

The Kumo ninja, could only laugh. Laugh at the irony, laugh at fate, laugh at his efforts. Wasted on deaf ears, he saw his target fly. A baboon, trying to grasp the moon in the reflection of a lake. That summed up the end of his life, and found it amusing, so he laughed.

The woman, with wide eyes and her own efforts stolen from her, whispered in mid air as her top half tried desperately to follow her murderer's sword. Could not finish the journey, could not turn with the sword and was slowly succumbing to gravity as her life flashed through her eyes.

"Shesshomaru?" He whispered. Even though she knew she probably wouldn't be alive when she heard his reply.

The crowd witnessed Naruto in the macabre dance. Eloquent and controlled, yet loose and fluid at the same time. Naruto had danced the dance of death as blood splatters almost frozen in the air concealed his form from every angle.

The bodies dropped to the floor as the brown leather jacket came into view. The center of the crowd controlled circle was a wasteland of blood and gore as Naruto lowered his arms and stopped his 180 degree spin.

"I will show you mercy, so that you may live." He whispered, only loud enough for the woman to hear.

The man who had killed her family right before her eyes. Her mother and father, murdered in a most brutal way, their heads plunged onto the pikes of the oppressive Military Police and places in the center of their town.

"He who takes up arms in the face of the Land of Fire will meet the same end."

The sign under the decapitated heads declared.

Her parents were doctors, who had helped and took in rebels belonging to the Souther Provinces. They had tried to explain that they had no choice, that they were threatened with death if they would not help. In some of the soldiers, she recognized pity. An understanding through pain maybe.

They had called their superior, in an effort to bargain for their lives.

It was bad luck. It was fate. It was destiny taking shape before her eyes.

The famed Shesshomaru had walked into her house, with a strange white haired man in tow. He was wearing simple black robes with an orange scarf. Unassuming for someone so powerful. The man beside him gave her the chills as he just simply smiled and spoke.

"The project is coming in nicely. Our research leads us to the motherload up in the North, way past Kumo. If we manage to find the cache, we can also find 'it'."

She observed the two absently talking as they walked in.

"The true Weapons of Fate…" Naruto whispered back.

"Its ironic that they are in the same place huh? Or, it could just be destiny."

The man smiled.

The captain of the guards started to explain the situation to Naruto at that moment.

They had stopped talking.

Naruto leveled his gaze toward her parents and lastly at her. He walked up to them, pulling out a Katana from seemingly nowhere. His steps a strain on the wooden floors of the house. Groaning when he came near, the very house was afraid of him. He spoke then, something she could never forget. Even if she hoped to. She would never forget those lightly glowing eyes.

"I will show you mercy, so that you may live."

She died that way, with her body cut in half and a look of horror and nostalgia on her face.

The civilians scurried to clear the streets after Naruto unleashed a little of his own killing intent. It revealed each Konoha Shinobi in the crowd, along with a dead member of the Kumo team with each. Neji had two.

Gai was the first to approach Naruto, with a Kumo ninja flung over his shoulder on his black jacket.

"There were fourteen in total. Everyone made it out ok…" He spoke in serious tones. He left one alive for questioning.

"Leave him here." Naruto said as he flicked the blood off his blades.

Gai noticed the look of horror on Sasuke and Kakashi's faces and noticed the dead civilian. He did not have time to ponder on what happened, only to move forward.

He hesitated though when Naruto asked Gai to leave his prisoner.

Naruto pointed above him.

And Gai followed his gaze.

Straining to see into the night sky, he noticed shadows pop in and out of his vision.

"Those are the red hawks, Hiroi, of the king. By now, the entire government knows who we all are and has sent a clean-up patrol to here. Leave him, they have better facilities for interrogation than we have access to."

So Gai or any of the Konoha shinobi would never know why these Kumo-nin had pounced on them. They all fealt a threat was left unnoticed. Naruto thought differently.

"We will all meet at the assembly tomorrow. On top of the tallest building in Kansai after the assembly."

He sheathed his swords and began walking towards the bar.

"Congratulations." He left the Konoha team with those words as he shut the door to the inn. They were all shocked at the results of the night. One minute they had been celebrating a mission, the death of Orochimaru, and the next they were in a deadlock fight to the death.

Gai began to see pairs of green lights popping up from the alleys. The Military Police was coming, their night vision giving away their position to the trained eye. He dropped the unconscious captive onto the ground while looking at one of them.

He listened without turning his head to Kakashi.

"We need to talk Gai, about Naruto." Kakashi said.

He nodded.

They left inside, not one of them noticing the symbol in blood drawn on the floor beside one of the dead Kumo shinobi. The one Sasuke had plunged a kunai into. It was a moth with sectioned antenna, with crude smiling and sad faces painted on each wing, opposite the other. The Kumo ninja's hand, still trying to draw the full wing before he died. With his own blood, he was ignored even recognition.


	9. Chapter 9 Days in Kansai

Awakening to the sun's blazing morning rays, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi got up. They had talked about last night, about Naruto. Even Gai and his team were included in the inter squad politics of a typical Konoha Shinobi Cell. They argued, talked until very late. It was the consensus that Naruto might be troubled, but is loyal to Konoha. Ironic that Sasuke was included in a decision about possible defectors.

Kakashi, being his usual self, decided that his and his team's opinions might be skewed. He had predicted the other half of the team backing up Naruto. He was that kind of guy, Kakashi supposed, that could make allies or enemies anywhere he wanted.

Even while Kakashi looked back on several suspicious situations, Naruto had proven infallible. He had always been right and had not made a tactical decision that had backfired.

A maddening swirling insanity of luck seemed to surround that child, Kakashi mused.

It was only that Naruto had left earlier that night to report to the King himself that the team was able to have the conversation at all.

Nothing would be done, could be assumed right now. Kakashi would wait until he could speak with Tsunade or Jiraiya. Perhaps they knew something of the way Naruto was acting.

For now, there was nothing _to_ do. But that never stopped Kakashi or his team for long.

He nodded to the now fully dressed Sakura and Sasuke.

Kakashi carefully ignored the fact that they shared the same bed last night. His colleague's personal lives were not his to pry into. Not while on a mission at least.

They both nodded back, signaling their departure for Kansai's Library and Royal Records department.

Sakura and Sasuke found themselves outside the Forbidden City, looking towards the surrounding buildings next to the taboo block.

After asking around a little and a warmer reception thanks to Sasuke's more civilian like attire, they were able to find the largest tower in Kansai. Not by much, only a few floors. Still, the massive edifice seemed to breach the clouds and alter the winds themselves.

Made of steel and glass, the modern exterior sported a traditional interior of wood and marble walls. An elevator and concierge desk located in the middle of the otherwise empty first floor would lend itself to intrigue all who walked in. Sakura and Sasuke were no different.

Of the thirty or so finely dressed attendants, Sakura chose to walk up to one of the only females.

'Curator Arashima'

It read in great golden brass underneath her section of the large circular desk.

Arashima was the first to speak.

"Welcome to the Royal Library of Kansai. How may I help you?"

The other 'curators' around her stared straight ahead, or were busy attending to paperwork of some kind of another. The scene, unsettlingly sterile.

"My name is Sakura, this is Sasuke-kun." She started, earning her a passive glance from Sasuke who seemed oddly cold to the term of endearment she had added.

"We are here to request mission logs and records for Uzumaki Naruto."

She worded it perfectly, Sasuke thought. They had agreed to research Naruto and not 'Shesshomaru', even though he suspected they were one in the same.

"Uzumaki Naruto…" She thought putting a curled finger to her chin. "…That file is held on the 99th floor."

Sasuke was impressed. There were more than 150 floors in the building, all rumored to be riddled with files and books. Ancient knowledge resided in this place. This curator had memorized it's layout. Impressive indeed.

It was said that the Royal Library was harder to sack than any hidden village by itself, security taken to different levels not previously reached.

She added, breaking his train of thought.

"However, all floors beyond 80 are classified. I am sorry for the inconvenience. May I recommend some historical documents regarding his earlier, unclassified records?"

She reached inside her dress and pulled out her head band. Flipping it over, she presented the inside of the wrap. Inscirbed on the reflective metal were the words.

'Haruno, Sakura

Chuunin

Hidden Village of the Leaf

A-class security clearance'

Reading over the inscription and validating the security pin number inscribed at the bottom left, she was able to pull a picture matching the number out of a large filing cabinet attached to the underside of the large desk. Finding no problems, she spoke once more, this time while taking out a medium sized yet intricate looking key.

"This will take you to the 81st floor, as is the level of your clearance."

Not much, but Sakura would take it.

Taking the key from Aramisha's hand, she walked towards the only break in the circular desk and straight to the elevator. Looking back towards Aramisha, she could see her helping another customer and pulling out a file. She could appreciate the intricacies of Aramisha's job now, the rotating clockwork under her desk muffled by the large dense wood that surrounded it. Constantly rotation under the desk, shifting as each curator requested a file. She traced an odd red file and watched it disappear into the desk, never to return. The file belt must circulate in other places as well. No telling how long it was.

Pushing the one button on the elevator, it opened its brass and gold accented doors to reveal a roomy elevator. Enough to fit twenty people with gear and still be comfortable.

They entered the solemn vessel of transportation inside the structure, and the doors closed with a small clang of metal. Now illuminated by the elevators interior red lights, they pressed the button for floor number 81.

The door was massive, its wooden slabs maintaining its rich dark complexity. Carved from what looked like whole trees for each side, it sported depictions of nature. Trees, water, wind, everything under the sun seemed to be carved out of the fallen giants.

Sasuke looked straight ahead towards the keyhole.

"Every door in the Royal Library is ancient, predating even Kansai. They are world renowned." Sasuke interrupted, prompting Sakura to cease her admiration for the doors of the Royal Library and open them already.

It's not that Sasuke was unimpressed. It's that he was even more excited to see what lie beyond.

She clinked the key to the right, releasing what sounded to be over thirty locks and clicks.

'Truly the only key for this door…' Sakura thought on how hard it would be to pick this specific lock. She did not doubt for a second that shinobi techniques would be useless here.

She could feel the expensive, advanced cameras looking at her from every marble ceiling tile. Truly the most secure place on Earth had to be the Royal Library.

Sasuke pushed one side of the door open, and two pairs of eyes grew wide. All around them were books, files, attendants. Bustling about, ignorant of Sasuke's and Sakura's presence, the worker bees went about their jobs with vigor. Filing, pulling, reading, filling out, the Konoha ninja could not even see the tops of the mighty rows upon rows of shelves being attended to by the swarm.

She grabbed Sasuke's reluctant hand, and tried to find a row unoccupied. They had searched the massive floor for a couple minutes before finding a semi secluded spot amongst the historical archives.

She turned to face Sasuke, when something caught her eye. A large book with golden trim. It read 'Kansai' on its spine. Absently, as if the book were calling to her, she picked it up. Guessing the weight wrong, she dropped it on its spine, the crack of the leathery tome hitting the wooden floor and snapping the book open to somewhere along its middle.

The chapter read, 'Modern Kansai, a study of the past.'

Sasuke observed Sakura's strange behavior. It was unlike her to focus on something else while in his presence. Perhaps she had changed over the years after all.

She picked it up, and started reading aloud.

"The city of Kansai, eighteen miles in diameter, it was shaped like a perfect oval. Its walls, constantly expanding and more structures were built. The city itself was carved of marble and a jungle of concrete, its markets accented with wood and ceramic tiles. Its cobblestone roads and smooth pavement separated the older inner city from its increasingly modern out city.

Its buildings always trying to reach the top of the skies. Property values around the center, older part, of Kansai drove the most inspired developers to truly attempt to spit in the eye of the gods with monstrous, gaudy buildings of glass and steel. The Forbidden City, where the royal family and nerve center for all of Fire Country was located at its absolute center. "

'The Author has an interesting way of writing. This must be an old periodical during the industrial era half a century ago, when poetry was all the entertainment people really had.' She thought.

"The center of the city that resides in the center of the world. Its own style, drastically different from the modern architecture that surrounded it. It raised itself fourty floors from the ground only, and was carved, not built, from Fire Country's Marble basin and strong, dark, oaken woods. Its style, traditional. Humble even. Belying the importance of the block wide palace with many smaller extensions was the perfectly carved marble wall. It was similar to Kansai's larger models that enclosed the city itself, except totally smooth and ordained with inhumanly precise runes and carvings dating back to the most ancient of times. Its walls had never been breached."

She paused, finding Sasuke inattentive. He was searching through the books on the other side. Apparently, he had been stumbled onto the 'U' section, thinking he might find what they came here to seek.

She read on to herself now, ready to explain to Sasuke that mission files and military records were kept in a different section. She used to work at Konoha's library, after all.

'The winding river of Ni-Hong divided the great city, its bends and twists numerous, the narrowest part of the river flowing right through the Forbidden City, a great wooden bridge connecting the two sides of the narrow river that would flood every so often. The Ni-Hong brought great troubles to the city, but ultimately was an economic boon for the whole of Fire Country.

The Ni-Hong river not only extended itself through Kansai and the Forbidden City, but also allowed itself to run through the whole of Fire Country. It ran through the frozen Northlands and dumped out into the South Sea. No one had ever found its origin at the frozen blasted lands of the North. Regardless, the Southern part of the Ni-Hong created a nation establishing aspect. Each year the great river would flood and bring nutrients to the soil for miles around it. Till this day, organic goods are the most exported resource of Fire Country.'

"Sakura." Sasuke interrupted, lightly grabbing the book from her hands and placing it back in its proper spot after snapping it shut.

"We need to locate Naruto's file." She recognized a call for help even if it came from someone like Sasuke. Blushing, she said.

"Military records are kept at a separate room on this floor I think. We have to ask around." She said.

Naruto walked the halls of the Forbidden City leading to the throne room. Its halls dark, light unable to pierce the now tinted glass of the marble and wood fortress. Only dimly lit torches provided illumination now, giving the Royal Family Portraits a haunting visage and the shadows of fires danced over their faces. From the beginning of the line to the end, they all stared. Akina, stared at him to. He would often stop on his passages to the throne room and stare at her face. The portrait of her, finished when they were just getting to know each other. She seemed so happy then, so loving and gentle, yet fiery and devoted. Now, her portrait failed to capture that moment. What once seemed happy now seemed sad.

Naruto shrugged off his stare and headed to the door on his left, Akina's portrait being the last added.

Opening the door, he was expecting the blinding white light of the redecorated throne room. It seemed to have no true dimensions; merely an infinite space locked inside a finite place.

He saw the figure in the middle. He saw what it watched. Along the seamless room, circular patterns of screens showed. Projected by undetermined means, Naruto moved forwards and approached the figure.

Dawned in the same armor except with a red trim and red scarf and wore minus the cloak, the figure looked exactly like him. His eyes, providing the light and piercing time and space with their power, they growled out a loud vibrating noise. It quieted down as Naruto approached and another man walked through the door.

The man sported white hair that hung in long strands, and a long white lab coat with the symbol for Flame of Eight sewed onto his right coat pocket.

He smiled, as he always did, when he shut the unassuming door and its seems to the hallway disappeared.

The figure in the middle, Naruto's carbon copy, had two very distinct features. His hair was different. Instead of Naruto's usual unruly blonde hair that seemed to stick out at the front, this figure's slightly lighter hair has adopted a gnarled blade-like appearance. Choosing the sag down slightly instead of up, he also had his most intriguing feature. A halo of light surrounded his head, obscuring his eyes and everything horizontally aligned with it along his face.

The vibrations died down as the Halo slowly receded. Light itself bent as the glow diminished and what was left were two blazing orbs of red light. They looked like they were on fire and tiny blades of flames and cinders tried to escape them.

"Have you found it yet?" The figure's voice asked to the man behind him, totally ignoring Naruto's presence. Yet, it seemed Naruto did not mind.

The smiling white haired man smiled wider. It was understood.

"It seems your little friend has been busy, oh great Fire Lord."

He always did like to use sarcastic honorifics, even if he didn't intend to. It was one of his many odd quirks.

The figure turned to regard Naruto.

The screens in front of the figure seemed to flicker, before focusing on a picture of himself. Moving slightly, it was a live picture, perfectly mimicking the 'King' with his mirror movement from Naruto's perspective. The figure raised its hand to within four inches of Naruto's eyes, yet he did not move, did not flinch.

The white haired man smiled as a plethora of images, a flood of data and information was displayed on the screens within seconds. The screens went back to a picture of the figure holding his hand out, from Naruto's perspective once again. Another surge of chakra occurred, this time the blue spectral energy released into Naruto.

As the figure lowered his hand, Naruto turned around. He tended to focus on what wasn't said, what was his instinct. What he was created for.

'Go. I gave you ten percent more this time. Do not fail with the sealing instructions I gave you.' He heard his own voice in his head.

Naruto walked out towards the door, ignoring the stare of the white haired man as he followed Naruto out, ready to divulge the location of his new objective.

Sasuke and Sakura were most definitely frustrated on the 81st floor. They lay in piles upon piles of empty manila folders, strewn about them sitting down between two isles. They had found the proper personel.

By the time the files got back to them, they had three full carts worth of missions. That was only five minutes ago though. Apparently, even Naruto's early work was classified beyond their reach, sometimes leaving only three or four words per mission or per page. They compared it to the Flame of Ten, and found that even his records weren't as classified. In fact, the only real piece of information they learned was his rank and who he was assigned to.

Apparently, she was already dead. From what Sakura knew of her, Akina was very beloved by the people. In fact, she was a favorite to become the next King, succeeding even against her brother.

An unsettling pattern showed up with all the Flame Guard's records. Around six months ago, they just stopped being reported. Frustrated, Sasuke walked back up to the counter.

Staring the male attendant right in the eye, he asked, "What do you know about Uzumaki Naruto, the Flame of Ten?"

Activating his sharingan discreetly, he subtly crafted the genjutsu that would give him his answers.

The man stared straight ahead past Sasuke, as if staring at nothing and yet reacting to everything. Like a statue, he stood, but his mouth would not stop moving when Sasuke asked the question.

"Uzumaki-san is the Flame of Ten, but was reassigned by dishonorable discharge. They kept him on the payroll until Akina-sama died."

He stopped to stare slightly downwards.

"But I remember, he used to be head of the Military Police before Shesshomaru-sama. It's not documented here and all the periodicals are censored, but I remember reading it in some of the contemporary archives I was restoring at the time."

And the plot thickens.

Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan just as Sakura walked up behind him. She didn't approve, but none-the-less, it was effective.

"Thank you for the help." Sasuke uttered as he disappeared, leaving a bewildered curator to wonder how he had helper at all.

It was about 15 minutes until the King's speech. They did not want to miss such an occasion.

For the first time in just over half a year, the Forbidden City was open to the public. Kansai's population of over 15 million flocked towards the city center. The streets were packed for miles around Kansai, trying to view one of the giant projection monitors that were set up two days prior. Many chose to watch from the towers that surrounded it. The Royal Library, just now closed to the public within moments of the five minute warning until the King's speech.

The crowded masses themselves, restless, unruly. Cheers and jeers resounded amongst the cacophony of indistinguishable rants and raves. The Military Police, riddled at key locations, sporting rather large rifles, not their usual handguns. Each one of those rifles were worth a small fortune. Still, their faceless presence littered the streets and entrances, large barricades of steel and barbed wire surrounding roads in the cobblestone center of the city. Security measures knew no bounds, each citizen going through random security checks and weapons sniffing dogs. The creatures vicious, yet tamed, sniffed out even the smallest trace amounts of metal.

The King was due to approach any second as the Konoha teams met up on top of the tallest building in the city, a commercial building that rose to a staggering 170 feet. The building, much like the Royal Library, needed an exceptional width to its dimensions in order to rise that high. It was said one could see the subtle curves of all of Fire Country, of even the curve of the wastes beyond the known lands to the North and West, and the endless oceans to the South and East.

They greeted each other warmly in their regular shinobi attire, all of them feeling more confident for it. They each wanted to go to Kansai for their own reasons, be it business or pleasure, but all were relieved to go back home. It was definitely not safe here, in this urban jungle, this wooden world, this marble creation. The largest in the world.

They did not have much time to share information when the microphones strewn about through the city started picking up footfalls. Slow at first, they seemed to be even slower as a lull washed over the masses. Painfully, the projections picked up movement on the ornate marble balcony on the top floor of the Forbidden City. The balcony itself was wide, almost fourty feet, but only jutted out for twenty. But it was carved of marble, its railings a solid slab and accented in a light rosewood. The roof extended itself just fifteen feet, providing sun and shade to those who demanded it.

The footfalls were closer. They could see a hand. A foot. The figure stopped for a moment and the crowd was deathly ill. Not a word was spoken or whispered. Their eyes glued to the balcony, the monitors, their ears strained to hear the booming words from the microphone speakers.

Naruto stood there, contemplating all his actions up until now. He concluded, as he always did, that they had to be done. With clean conscience he observed the crowd from the shadows.

'I was created for this purpose and this purpose alone. Born I was weak, now I am strong.' He chanted in his head as he went over his own personal experiences.

He began making a few more steps, and out from the shadows rose his chest, both arms and a whole leg, he kept going until all but his face was shrouded in darkness created by the overhang of the midday sun. And slowly, ever so painfully, his face was no longer obscured by the blackness that seemed to surround yet not affect him.

Golden hair and stark blue eyes. He wore the armor of the King, or rather, the orange trimmed version. The crowd, once recognizing his status yet not knowing who he was, waited to hear footfalls of the King of Fire Country. Yet, no footfalls were heard. Murmurs began to spread as Naruto simply looked forwards, into the clear blue skies and carbon steel that accented the horizon down the main roads.

He stared at the progress of man.

And he spoke.

Just as the murmurs of questions began to spread, as the drones began to buzz, he spoke.

The speakers, amplifying his voice, all in the massive metropolis did the citizens hear his words.

The Konoha team, shocked that Naruto would be included in such an important occasion, grew even more numb as they realized Naruto _was_ the speech.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto, of the Hidden Village of Konoha…" he began.

"Father…" a child of ten dressed in green and blue asked his father beside him. The father, glued to the projection monitors somewhere in the concrete maze of the city center. The images, focusing with a shaky hand on who was now identified as Uzumaki Naruto. The boy's father, like all those around him, grew tense. His father had told him never to trust a shinobi, that they are the reason that his Uncle and Aunt were killed in the Souther Provinces.

Indeed, the entire crowd was tense.

"…I am the Flame of Zero…" The crowd was in shock at first, putting together the pieces of the puzzle. This crowd's cold stares grew pensive, grew viscous, grew rabid and twisted.

The yells of outrage came forth, the disdain of the citizens of Kansai evident in the pieces of fruit and vegetables they threw. None could reach the height of Naruto, sailing back to the Earth from whence they came.

On the other side of the city, a lone woman dressed in olive green and white observed The Flame of Zero on her own projection monitor. The people beside her grew angrier than what seemed like the rest. The shaky camera, now focusing on his eyes and a blinking subtitle that read 'Uzumaki Naruto, The Flame of Zero'.

People began to chuck things at the giant white projection screen, blotching and ripping it. The whole of Kansai was calling for blood almost thirty seconds later, the military police dawning riot shields and warming up their high pressure water hoses.

All of the Konoha ninja, save for Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi were varying degrees of shocked. Kakashi himself, simply felt betrayed. Sasuke, was oddly excited. And Sakura, was slightly scared.

"…And I come bearing a message concerning the King…" He raised his arm, and instantly a flare shot out from the top of the castle roof, signaling the planned action on behalf of the Military Police.

Instantly, on top of all the roofs and blockades, and even in the mixed crowds, they started to discharge their weapons into the air, avoiding buildings and people. The cracks resounded and echoed longer than anything they had heard, people were frightened, everyone seemed to instinctually quite down.

Still, they grew angry, merely a silent anger had washed over them when the weapons had stopped their barrage.

"…Six months ago, the King had died…"

A bit of news that would be heard round the world before the sun would set.

The crowds, unbelieving, shocked, could not utter a word, grew more panicked, grew sad and cold.

"…Weeks ago, we have brought to justice those who had killed the King…"

Assasination. The crowds anger, forgotten on Shesshomaru, the heavy handed head of the Military Police, the brutal murderer, and instead was more focused on whom had killed their beloved King. They waited on baited breath, the name of the man or nation that had done it. Naruto did not disappoint.

"…The Nation of Kumo to the North has been utterly decimated by our Military, our casualties are in the tens, and theirs are in the hundreds of thousands…"

The crowd, expected to take in the celebration of their King's murderers brought to justice, was wasted of deaf ears. Most, still recovering from the fact their King is dead, others, dwelling on who would be the next ruler. The King had no heirs, after all.

The ancient dynasty that had survived since the birth of man had died off. Most, felt hopeless. Shesshomaru was hated, despised as being a brutal phsycopath, surely this did not mean he was wresting control of the throne.

"…Some time ago, we had disclosed that her highness Akina-sama had passed away in child birth. This was not so."

Confused and for the first time in this speech, showing a glint of hope, Naruto pressed on as footsteps began to echo in the background of the microphone. The cameras focused on the spot next to Naruto's left shoulder as a smaller figure with blonde hair began to emerge wearing the true armor of the King. The red trimmed infamous armor of the true ruler of Fire Country.

The citizens focused on her, on the shaky images of her face and eyes, of her mouth and blonde golden hair. They awaited confirmation. Once again, Naruto did not disappoint.

"…The King is dead, long live the King!" He shouted as the monitors began to display the words 'Akina-Hi, Daimyou of Fire Country' under the new dainty figure, now surrounded by the sun's bright raise.

A man in his forties dressed in nobleman's robes shouted from his position, close to the balcony inside the Forbidden City.

"The King is dead! Long live the King!" his voice echoed across the masses. Few precious moments passed as a small undistinguished chant came from hopeful faces. It proved contagious as it spread quickly, like a fire or a plague.

"Long live the King!" They began to shout, words and rythms becoming synced as the crowd began to forget their anger. Their beloved Akina-sama had returned. The heart of the people had returned.

She chose that moment to speak, just as the cameras began to zoom out and in, static buzzing in and out due to the large amounts of electronic interference that occurs when so many devices are hooked up to the same feed.

"I am Akina, the Lord of Fire Country."

The crowd erupted in cheers of joy and hope. So loud was it in the centers of the city, people covered their ears. All of them, caught in the moment as if caught in a miracle. Akina-sama was back.

"I ask that you please listen to me now, that we may work together to make our nation a better one."

The crowd cheered one last time before they died down. Almost three minutes later, the crowds of Kansai found their need to know more.

"As my first royal decree, I declare the Southern Provinces officially annexed from the hold of Fire Country, and instead, be made its own official nation provided they follow economic embargos and policies set forth by the Council and I."

More cheers filled the air, as a needless rebellion and unnecessary blood would no longer rage or flow.

"I also announce…" she interrupted the cheers.

"That until further notice, Kansai and the whole of Fire Country will remain under strict marshal law until the political implication of Kumo's destruction subsides. The world is in turmoil, my sisters, my brothers. And if we work together, we can secure our own futures and that of our children's."

The crowd started applauding and cheering again, as Akina turned with Uzumaki, the camera's focused on their retreating back. Some noticed a small blood red symbol on a patch of black. On Naruto's back armor was an intricate design of a moth. With a smiling and sad pattern on opposite wings, but drawn to be visible only when squinting or staring past.

They retreated into the shadows as Akina shouted once more, the ambient microphones still enhancing her voice as she turned her head slightly to the side.

"My heart will always belong to the people."

And again she retreated into the obscure shadows, her angelic voice following her.

And again, the cheers were heard.

'I was created for this purpose and this purpose alone…' the smaller figure in the darkness thought. '…born I was weak, now I am strong.' It chanted in its head as it and Naruto sizzled into a flurry of red ribbons, nothingness replacing existence.


	10. Chapter 10 Alpha and Omega

Saya was always very spiritual, very old fashioned and very bright. She had come from a prestigious family in Kansai, and being well connected to the royal family was what enabled her to acquire her current job. Deputy Chief of the Military Police. She took pride in what she did, even when the jobs were not all that clean or moral. She had learned a long time ago not to question the higher powers, to merely realize that right and wrong had no definitive separation, that all was a matter of society and perspective. She was not a cold woman by any means, merely professional. And her duty was to serve her master, the head of the Military Police.

Boots hit the trench as Saya and her squad positioned themselves inside their newly dug positions just outside Kumo's west wall. She and the rest, all six, had been hand picked by her own master—Each the crème of the crop in training and tested in combat. Each, waiting for their master's signal.

Each prepared, disciplined enough to die for their cause.

Suddenly, a beautiful green light shot from the ground. It's smoky trail stretched on and on, trying to keep up with it's illuminated head. The flare almost reached the clouds as it illuminated the ground below in a green, fluorescent glow.

The Kumo guards that Saya had been observing to patrol the west wall stopped. They had observed the green light, thinking it was part of some jutsu or training excersize. Kumo had gotten lax in the few years of peace it had enjoyed, their ninja fat and kind.

She threw a grenade at the befudled guards, still trying to decipher the origin and meaning of the bright green light. It rolled, it's smoothe surface allowing it to seamlessly glide on the cobblestone that led into the city.

They spotted the round object but did not react in time as a viscous roar broke the silent green light of the night. The first guard had been blown in half from the waist—the other was on the floor, nose and eyes bleeding profusely. His sinus cavity had blown up it seemed.

Saya looked at her squad one last time while her grenade went off, their green glowing facemasks making them easily identifiable from foe.

'Operation Cloud Coverage…begin…' She thought as she made the hand signals for the rest of her squad. Each, in turn, took out their own flare guns and pointed them up into the air. A mass of red lights rose to the heavens, the signal to begin.

A roar of battlecries alerted the village of their imminent attack. Saya saw five chuunin approach out of the corner of her eye. She signaled to Yoshiro to continue his coverage on the wall.

He nodded, beginning to deploy a mount for his weapon.

Saya cocked the hammers of her own smaller firearms, preferring two pistols to the standard rifle of the military police.

Her mask's tracking sensors detected seven body heat signatures in the area but only two were visible. She opened fire on the incoming chuunin. The lead bullets grazing their ranks as each shinobi vainly tried to escape the high velocity rounds.

Two of them could not keep up with the rate of fire, now sporting exit wounds through center mass. Both dropped to the ground, life fluid slowly oozing out. The remaining shinobi stretched out to the sides and launched their own projectile volley, however slower it may have been.

Saya could distinctly hear the sound of Yumo's mini-gun warm up and a literal river of hot metal flew to its targets on the walls.

"DIE DIE DIE!" He screamed. His hate, unquenchable.

Saya narrowed her eyes as she turned and dove, escaping the kunai by hairs breadth. Hitting the floor roughly, she kept firing. She knew the closer they got, the harder it would be for them to dodge. They knew that too.

But they had not counted on Fushu's modified rifle. From over two kilometers he sat in his perch, overlooking almost all of Kumo. The two were dead before they even sensed any threat, before they hit the ground, the backs of their heads blown off. It was only two seconds later that the gunshot was even heard, such was the great distance the bullet had traversed.

'Live by the sword, die by my bullet. Shinobi are nothing.' He thought as he silently bolted another round

In to his rifle and began prioritizing targets again. His wrath insatiable.

She turned to regard Yomu and his targets, a wall that barely stood and a good amount of dead shinobi. She pressed two fingers to the earpiece behind her mask.

"Do it, Omoi."

Suddenly, a massive explosion rocked the walls just beyond, shaking the soil and crumbling shacks, it engulfed countless civilians and shinobi alike within the city center.

Omoi, the Military Police's finest explosives specialist dashed out of the flames that now served as an organic barrier to replace the crumbled wall. Flames licking at his heels, he ran towards the ditch.

Running, he thought, was not suited for him. His demeanor, an ever present sloth.

Now it was Cena's part. Saya never really trusted Cena, even though she was one of the only other female soldiers of the Military Police. Assassins were hard to trust, after all.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned, regarding Cena with her knives out and a bloody sack in her left hand.

"Its done" she whispered in a sultry tone to Saya's ear. The hairs on the back of her neck rose as Saya turned away. She much rather preferred the sound of gunfire to Cena's sultry words and the smell of gun powder to her sweet, heavily perfumed scent.

She could see several heat signitures now, moving towards her rapidly. They were almost within rifle range. This was the moment they had trained for as over a hundred heat signitures began buzzing with the likeness of angry wasps.

"This it it. " she repeated.

Suddenly the air around the city changed. There was a deafening crack and a light brighter than the sun. The vicous sound blowing out all of the glass inside the city, the light blinding most. They desperately tried to clear their vision, to regain balance. Some Kumo Shinobi came to realize their eardrums had ruptured in the wake of the blast, some came to realize that the temporary blindness had landed them a one way ticket to the after-life. Yet the frightened many stood and staired up, searching the horizons for a new fiery glow. When they could not find any, some looked up.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"How are the advanced guard dealing with the disturbance on the west wall?" The old man spoke in his office, slowly walking out the door and into a glass hallway. Obscured in darkness and illuminated by the moon at the same time, a KUMO ninja rose from the side of the glass pane in the hallway, his form seemingly emerging as if from water, defying substance and physical law.

"We lost contact with them exactly one minute ago. Four full teams of Jounin have been dispatched, my Lord." He spoke without tone or flexion.

Seconds later, an explosion rocked the very foundations of the old Raikage's village. He turned to regard the fiery explosion and subsequent glowing flames towards the west. He was nearing the end of the hallway when he spoke to the Kumo ninja once more.

"Declare a state of emergency. Recall all active shinobi from duty and sound the alarms throughout the city. Get them to the west wall immediately. Get the civilians into the shelters first. "

Without word, without fail, without noise of any kind, the Kumo ninja turned his head to regard the old kage and melted back into the nether from wence he came. Seamingly, to carry out his orders.

It would be the last time anyone would have seen the old man, as the scent of heavy perfume filled his olfactory sense. He opened the door and identified the perfume, but not the woman who wore it. It smelled of his first wife. Of dew in spring, right before the start of summer's rainy season. The woman, however, was young. In her twenties, holding a shining piece of metal and brown empty sack. But he could not tear his gaze nor attention away from her green eyes, covered partly by long lashes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto walked through a metal hallway. The segments illuminating the windowless hull along his footfalls as Hanoi followed diligently.

"The cockpit should be just ahead. From there, Omega's full potential can be accessed. To include it's main arsenal." Hanoi said with a diligent smile on his face and a clipboard in his hand.

"Excellent. So we have located the alpha weapons and Omega is now in our grasp. Operation Cloud Coverage should now be under way. Shall we test the true weapon of fate?" Naruto half-asked half-stated as both travellers came to a halt in front of a large metal door.

"Authenticate" A female voice sounded from a speaker above the door. A red orb slowly glowing to life after centuries of dormancy.

Hanoi handed Naruto his clipboard, from which he read…

"Authenifacation code TeU906, Classification 1609A. Engage subroutine protocol Debug, shift control to manual."

The glowing orb took Naruto's voive, scanned his form and accepted his commands. Responding…

"Authentifcation accepted. Manual override engaged. Fourty seconds until Orbital Break."

He moved forward as the doors slid open horizontally and the full view of Omega was shown. The cockpit painting a brutally real picture of their position in orbit, far above the frozen North and the elemental Countries.

He stopped to regard the single control console in the room, in front of a very simple, yet elegant, metal and leather chair. He sat down as numerous clamps and mechanical devices attached themselves to Naruto's form. Tiny mechanical petals and gears coated his likeness as the final piece was attached, a metal helmet and visor which displayed to its user a four dimensional 360 degree view of the Hull, interior, and exterior feeds through high definition cameras and targeting systems.

He tensed his muscles and the ship creaked, the engines ignited, the view began to rotate. No longer in orbital equilibrium, Omega's thrusters cracked to life once more, pointing the ship at a straight line onto the piece of rock it observed but had not touched for millennia.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kumo Ninja were dying. Dieing by the dozens, Hona noticed. Her friends, her family. She had already had to bury a great deal of them, but now.

Now she would be digging graves for weeks.

Bodies litered the once foggy streets of Kumo. As every cloud that had ever fallen on the village, for which it is famous and was named for, are the bodies outweighed. But only then because she knew the clouds would always come, and the bodies would at some point stop being produced.

Strange weapons, stranger armor and tactics the enemy possessed. They were all sent to the Western Wall to fight off the invaders of unknown origin. Yet when they arrived, no longer were there any evidence of the enemies save for the strange killing wounds on her earlier comrades. She had never seen such wounds. When they decided to split up, to secure the rest of the village sector by sector. That was a mistake.

They were in the streets, hiding in shops and homs, everywhere, luring all they could into explosive ambushes. Luring them into positions from which their strange weapons made short sport of them.

The loud cracks sounded and then disappeared, the flames they released banishing themselves and manifesting in a burning Kumo as fires spread. Dancing and weaving their molten trails through the city, great fiery scars running along it's face.

The sons and daughters of many had already perished, and so precious few remained. Civilians, ninja, they were the same to the enemy. All fair sport. Their glowing eyes a wraithlike presence on the both of them.

She gathered what kunai she could off of her dead counterpart before her. Her own squad had fallen prey to an ambush. Communications were down with the squad behind her, apparently fairing similarly to herself. She knew immediately this time to run when the metal sphere bounced along the road next to her.

Diving into a nearby shop, she saw the first few seconds of the explosion, narrowly avoiding a piece of metal shrapnel from hitting her abdomen. The fiery shard igniting the wooden shop walls. Thinking quickly, she called out.

"Futon: Slicing Wind!"

As she stretched her gleaming sword upwards, it struck the roof of the shop and split a perfect circular hole from its surroundings. Following her technique, she leapt straight up and burst through the now burning roof, fiery splinters following her leap towards the foggy night.

She saw the enemy and launched a volley of Kunai towards the two exposed ones. She heard her projectiles hit, but saw that the enemy was still standing. The kunai stuck into their vitals, or bouncing off a metal helmet and face mask. The kunai that did stick seemed to only shallowly cut, their armor apparently thicker than it seemed.

"Roof! Nine O' Clock High!" She heard one of her victims scream as she heard one of them take a knee and begin whispering things into his helmet. Jumping back to create some space between them, she started tying explosive notes.

'If Kumo is to burn anyway, I might as well take them with me!' She thought. She never had the chance to act though.

Some of her first last thought were why blood was gushing from her neck, was why she was only now beginning to hear the crack of enemy weapons, of why she couldn't talk and simply fell to the floor, watching her own explosive tags and kunai clatter.

She heard, in the final throws of death that would come in minutes, if not sooner…

"They say confirmed kill sir. All units are reporting minimal casualties and the battles towards the west are dieing do…" He suddenly stopped talking, Hona observed in silent horror as the very sky seemed to glow red, the clouds lighting on fire. She accepted her death was imminent, that her mortal life was coming to an end. She did not wish, however, for the world to come to an end as well. She kept observing the sky, listening to those whom had taken everything from her.

"Sir, we have been ordered to make a full retreat toward the extraction points. Double time. CentCom sais Big Boss is about to make his appearance."

She could not note, however, that he was pointing up the whole time.

She saw the red clouds part, however, making the fire behind the clouds visible. Had the enemy called on a god to obliterate them? Was this some sort of divine retribution for living the life all ninja did? Was the apocalypse just this, the fire of heaven raining down upon all of creation?

But no, the flaming mass seemed to no longer fall, though the smoldering mass was almost a bright as the dawn sun.

It's flames started to die down, the hovering object's scale was fully understood then.

It was as long as Kumo was wide, and almost three blocks thick. The fires drove themselves away as the now identified metal floating ship simply waited.

She noted how it seemed to have many polygonal shapes, yet no curves. It seemed to look like a sword from below, two small metal hunks on the thicker side of it. Even what looked to be a hilt. Then the fires died down completely, allowing the dark figure to loom as another booming sound was heard.

She tried to scream for help at that point, still finding her life blood spilling out, unable to move or scream or even think properly. Still, she could do nothing but watch.

Hanoi whispered to the metal clad form of Naruto while removing his earpiece.

"All of our forces have safely evacuated to their designated extraction zones. We are free to fire on the city."

Naruto smiled sadly.

"Safeties off" His voice sounded.

"Safeties disengaged" Omega responded.

Part of Naruto's metal helmet and visor retracted, exposing the left side of his face.

"This deserves some music. Something that no one has heard in thousands of years, doesn't it?" He asked.

"That's for you to decide. A scientist never intervenes, after-all." Hanoi said, smiling.

Naruto selected a random piece stored in the ship's memory.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hona heard the sound of a microphone coming from the ship. A light static at first, but she could distinctly hear the tell-tale sound of a volume enhancing device.

"I will show you mercy, so that you may live." The voice clearly heard.

And then silence for a few moments as parts of the ship began to move. Small arms sprouting from the sides and bottom.

A countless many folds opened up near its wings and the massive number of metal arms began to rotate and buzz. And then she heard a beautiful voice over the buzz, through the initial sound system.

She couldn't understand the woman, couldn't even find rhyme or rhythm of the woman's voice at first.

Then the streams of light shooting from the arms, the smoking trails and screeches of the fold expelling a innumerable amount of projecticles, each as large or larger than she. Like hornets they flew, in between the broken streams of glowing light the arms shot.

She could only here the voice then, but even looking up, all around her periphery she noted the destruction that followed.

She cried silently, tears rolling down her unblinking eyes, as instrumentals were introduced, and a second woman joined the fray.

And suddenly the destruction of her village was almost sadly beautiful.

The highs and lows almost perfectly synced with her home town's destruction. Fiery pillars and screams in the background. She cried more and more, her tears blurring her vision of the ship above her as she noticed the insignia on the bottom of it. The red moth and a sad and smiling face on its wings, crudely drawn.

What beautiful, sad destruction, she cried.

And she knew no more as the song came to an end, surely the next life would be kinder to her soul. Surely whatever god had come to claim her life would allow her peace.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It was a beautiful piece. What was it called?" For once Hanoi was not smiling.

Naruto, his left eye stopping to produce his blinding signature light, was on its original blue. He tilted his head to regard the continuing destruction of the village before him.

""Duettino - Sull'aria, from opera Le nozze di Figaro."

He spoke as a solemn tear rolled down his cheek from the corner of his eye, and the metal coat around him receeded back into the chair.

He slowly got up, his eyes closed, and walked to the side of the massive cockpit.

The guns stopped firing as his eyes began to glow once more.

He spoke again as he leaned on the glass.

"Engage protocol Cleansing Fire."

"Cleansing Fire subroutine activated. Initiating countdown. 10…9…"

"There is no turning back after this.." Hanoi whispered "…Are you sure this is what she would have wanted, Naruto?"

"6...5…"

"It may not be how she wanted it…" He replied slowly.

"3…2…"

"But this is the only way I know how to…

"1…"

"Akina…" He spoke then, more to himself than to Hanoi.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saya, loading supplies onto the boats they used to bypass Kumo advanced guard, was also noticing the influx of comrades to their extraction zone. They had all witnessed Kumo's fate and "Big Boss", Naruto's code name for the operation, unleash all hell with their newest weapon.

She knew from Naruto herself that the biggest bang and best strategic advantage of the weapon would be last though. She was not incorrect as a circular pattern on the ship began to glow and rotate at the bottom. Glowing whiter and brighter, the weapon hit its zenith at a blinding ray. Suddenly gale force winds and an even intenser flash hit Saya and all of the Military police. She could squint through it though, and observed the utter destruction of Kumo. Whomever was left alive in that city were surely dead now. The explosive cloud of fire rose even higher than her master's ship. Not after two full mintues did the explosion begin to die down. However, the metal tubes that shot out of Omega did not wait.

They stretched for kilometers in random directions. But Saya saw the pattern. They were headed for all the extraction points.

They hit the ground, going through them, boring through rock as screeching and trembling were observed. They retracted as quickly as they came, the giant tubes seemingly melting into the empty hangar of Omega located at the sword's tip. Then, surprisingly, smaller, personnel sized tubes shot from the ground. Out stepped someone who she did not expect. Hanoi was almost never seen outside a lab, after-all.

After the marrying of the research and development and military police departments, however, such an appearance was not too shocking.

'"These are Omega's most strategic advantages… " he bgean.

"…These tube carriers with spring fourth from Omega's hangar, carrying expandable bunkers and shoving them over one hundred feet down. They are able to hold more than two hundred each, and include an array of advanced weapons, vehicles, and best of all, an unbreachable, undetectable fortress that can put soldiers anywhere on the ground within a two mile radius of the bunker itself."

They all smiled then, just like Hanoi always smiled.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"My Lord" Saya said as she and her elite team bowed before Naruto's form in the cockpit.

He went to business as usual. He always did ignore his own accomplishments too much, Saya thought.

"You and your team are to take this ship and deliver it the the predesignated coordinates found on Omega's navigation computer. Once there, you will await for further instructions from me. No communication is allowed for this duration. Understood?"

"Yes Naruto-Sama!" They all responded.

Naruto turned and walked to the front of the cockpit, looking and the crater that used to be Kumo. He closed his eyes.

'I need to make an appearance in Konoha soon…' He thought '…the gears have already been set in motion once more.'

He turned and walked past his still kneeling subjects.

"Do not fail me."

He spoke, but a whisper was heard by all.

'Yes, soon the end will come…Akina…'


	11. Author's Note

This is my first authors note. I really didn't want to even add _one_, but it is rather important. Those of you keeping up with the story, thanks. Not a whole lot of people read after the first chapter. In any case, I have decided to take a hiatus. There are so little reviews for a story this long, I am beginning to think my opus grande is an opus shitte (that's right, spelled Ye Olde way bizitch…). So, I am going to rethink the story. This may take weeks or months.

Once again, to my loyal readers; Thank you very much, and I make it a habit not to put a story on hold, but there are just too few reviews for me to invest such a great deal of time here. I'm pretty sure Im guilty of believing my story as one of the best when, in fact, it's a monster piece of shit…


	12. AN updated and will be removed shortly

I have turned on Anonymous Reviews and spiced up the summary a little. My Hiatus will be over in one month's time. The next chapter will focus on world affairs; fill in a lot of blanks. The plot will start to make much more sense and a few of you might make predictions. However, please note that this story will have a lot of complex relationships and twists, all of which should come together quite nicely in the end on the story. And mark my words, you will not be disappointed.

Also, I feel I should address the element of technology into the Naruto world. I should start by asking "have you ever seen a character in Naruto use a gun or seen technology that shouldn't be there based on the level of common technology available to the common man? The Naruto world is set in the future. The Elemental Nations are just a small part of it, yet nothing is known beyond them. I want you to ask why that is. I want you to make assumptions and realize what I have already inferred. A gun is powerful. An automatic weapon is more powerful. But primarily; they win battles because no one has ever fought against such weapons before in recorded history, and because no one ever planned to fight more than one at a time. Tactics involving firearms and shinobi are very complex, and the shinobi side has merely not figured out an effective means to fight them. Not because they tried and failed, but because it ws never considered a possibility before. The possibility that a trained soldier can kill multiple shinobi with the right tactics. Guns are not the end-all. They are merely the beginning.


End file.
